AB de Villiers magic floors Kolkata Knight Riders

Only AB de Villiers can score an unbeaten 73 from 33 balls and leave you viscerally incomplete.

That his latest in a long line of stupendous knocks came on a spongy wicket with quality Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers refraining from offering pace mattered little.

That his partner - Virat Kohli (33 n.o.) - sputtered through each of his 28 deliveries at the other end, stalling momentum, didn’t let him off the hook.

When it comes to de Villiers, you always want more.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore didn’t seem to mind what came their way, though, because the human highlight reel powered them to their fifth win in seven games. In smashing six sixes - two of which literally stalled traffic on the road adjoining the Sharjah Cricket stadium - and five boundaries, de Villiers ensured RCB post 194 for 2 in 20 overs.

Unfortunately, Kolkata didn’t have a de Villiers with them, the threat of an Andre Russell explosion was diffused early, and RCB’s bowling unit - Yuzvendra Chahal (1/12 in 4 overs) and Washington Sundar (2/20) in particular - could not have done better. Result: Kolkata were restricted to 112 for 9 in 20 overs, and RCB won by 82 runs.

With the latest unfolding, the narrative of teams chasing being at a disadvantage in this edition of the Indian Premier League has only gained traction. Surely, Kohli considered this statistic when he won the toss and opted to bat. It seemed like a mistake, however, when close to five overs in the middle phase didn’t see a boundary.

Kohli, despite coming into this contest with an unbeaten 90 behind him, barely middled the ball and was visibly peeved with not capitalising on yet another brilliant start from Aaron Finch (47) and Devdutt Padikkal (32). In fact, his only boundary came from an outside edge in the 19th over, and he reacted with an ecstatic ‘yes!’.

De Villiers had no such problems. Walking in after Finch in the middle of the 13th over, he started off as Kohli’s sprinting partner. From the start, it was evident that De Villiers wasn’t going to follow his skipper’s ploy of walking down the crease. He instead sat deep in his crease and waited.

Patience pays and his reward arrived in the 16th over when Kamlesh Nagarkoti was subjected to 18 runs, and that was only the beginning. The next four overs saw RCB collect 65 and the duo crossed 3,000 runs as a partnership in the IPL.

Kolkata must wonder if Sunil Narine could have made the difference. The bowler was reported for chucking in the previous game and was replaced by Tom Banton for this one. Needless to say, we will never know.

What is known though, is that de Villiers is out of this world, obviously. And RCB are slowly chipping away at the status of being a mediocre bowling side. With Chahal front and centre, each component has delivered at the highest level in the last two games.

To summarise, barring a shoddy catching performance again, it was yet another perfect game for RCB.