IPL 2017: Krunal Pandya claims AB de Villiers for the fourth time; sends him back with a cheeky gesture

The jittery season of Royal Challengers Bangalore refuses to come to an end and they are once again on the mat against the Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.

South African skipper AB de Villiers threatened to take the game away from the hosts as he put on a stunning display of strokeplay in front of a full house. He smashed 43 runs off 27 balls in an innings which included 3 fours and 3 sixes. However, his innings was cut short once again by his nemesis Krunal Pandya, who has now dismissed him 4 times in as many innings.

AB was creaming the bowlers all over the park and he looked to shuffle and slog sweep a full ball outside off towards cow corner but only managed to get a massive top edge. Jasprit Bumrah swallowed the catch at short fine leg.

"The intent was there. Unfortunately, I didn't push on a bit longer. I knew Rohit was trying to squeeze the spinner in there and get rid of the overs. I was trying to attack, saw a bit of weakness there, but unfortunately, I didn't pull off that shot. It's never easy (to handle expectations), but you got to be humble. Keep your feet on the ground. I was hoping for 170-175, but this is a good score and hopefully, it's enough," De Villiers said after the innings.

Krunal then celebrated the dismissal by sticking out 4 fingers and waving it all around to reiterate his domination over de Villiers.

After this dismissal the numbers are thus:

AB de Villiers vs Krunal Pandya in the IPL thus far:

Runs: 33Balls: 32Dismissals: 4Average: 8.25S/R: 103.13

Earlier, Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first on a hot and sweltering day in Mumbai. Kohli looked in decent touch but was dismissed in a very soft manner as he chipped a slower off cutter from Mitchell McClenaghan to Rohit Sharma at short mid-wicket.

Gayle was not given a game once again, but his replacement Travis Head failed to grab the opportunity.

Mumbai would now look to win this game and seal their spot in the playoffs. Kohli has already gone on record saying that his team does not stand any chance of making it to the playoffs and whether or not this allows the team to play without any inhibition remains to be seen.