WATCH: AB de Villiers smashes back-to-back SIXES off Sandeep Sharma

The high voltage clash between RCB and SRH is underway and guess what Mr.360 AB de Villiers is at his vintage best. After a thrilling start to the match, courtesy of some brutal batting from young Devdutt Padikkal, the experienced campaigner AB de Villiers, took charge of the matters as he made his way towards as impressive 50. His short yet crisp innings included two back to back monstrous sixes of SRH seamer Sandeep Sharma.

RCB gets off to a great start courtesy of Devdutt Padikkal

RCB who lost the toss were put in to bat first by David Warner and co. Despite that, they got off to a great start courtesy of some brutal hitting by young southpaw, Devdutt Padikkal. He showed no nervousness of a debutant and looked as confident as an experienced player. He took on each and every bowler, thereby scoring 56 of 42 balls. After that RCB lost their way a bit as Finch got out on the immediate next ball and captain Kohli failing to make a big impact. But as the popular saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going. The South African veteran took matters into his own hands and plundered 51 runs from just 30 balls to take RCB to a comfortable total of 163.

ABD smashes two back to back sixes

ABD was at his absolute best in the 18^th over of the match, where he entirely shifted the momentum in favour of the RCB. All of SRH’s bowlers and especially Sandeep Sharma was using the slower balls to great perfection to deceive RCB batsmen. They succeeded in doing it to a great extent. It was one such slow ball that deceived RCB captain Virat Kohli. But AB de Villiers was not ready to be fooled by such slow ball merchants. He carved one of Sandeep Sharma’s slower ball towards extra cover for a stunning six in the third ball of 18^th over. It was a length ball, and ABD waited patiently to pounce on that. As it happened, it was ABD’s 200th six in the IPL.

It was followed by a monstrous six, which ABD slapped over the point region thereby punishing Sandeep Sharma’s yet another wider slower ball. His onslaught at the death overs ensured that RCB reached a comfortable total inside 20 overs.