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AB de Villiers will be in action tonight when the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) take on the Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Narendra Modi Stadium.
The former South African cricket team captain has looked in excellent touch during IPL 2021. AB de Villiers played a match-winning knock of 75 runs against the Delhi Capitals recently and will be keen to attack the struggling Punjab Kings bowling attack in Ahmedabad tonight.
The Royal Challengers Bangalore star has enjoyed playing against Punjab in the IPL. He has aggregated 692 runs while donning the RCB jersey versus Punjab. Overall in the IPL, de Villiers has scored 710 runs in 21 innings at an average of 47.33 against the Mohali-based franchise. His strike rate in these 21 innings has been 159.19.
The numbers suggest de Villiers loves batting against the PBKS bowlers, and another top-quality batting performance could be on the cards tonight in Ahmedabad.
As the Royal Challengers Bangalore prepare to take the field against the Punjab Kings at Narendra Modi Stadium, here's a look at the three best performances by AB de Villiers against PBKS.
3. 52 (39) - Mohali, IPL 2012
Daniel Vettori's Royal Challengers Bangalore visited Mohali in IPL 2012 to take on the Punjab Kings (then known as Kings XI Punjab) at the PCA Stadium. Vettori won the toss and invited the home side to bat first.
Skipper David Hussey's 34-ball 41 guided Punjab to 163/6 in their 20 overs. Chasing 164, RCB were down to 25/3 as Parvinder Awana dismissed Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary in quick succession.
AB de Villiers came out to bat at number five and destroyed the Punjab bowling attack with Chris Gayle. The two overseas stars added 131 runs for the fourth wicket before Awana picked up Gayle's wicket. AB de Villiers also lost his wicket to Piyush Chawla after scoring 52 runs off 39 deliveries.
Andrew McDonald and Daniel Vettori completed the formalities for RCB as they won by five wickets.
2. AB de Villiers' highest score versus Punjab: 89* (46) - IPL 2017, Indore
This is AB de Villiers' highest score against the Punjab Kings in IPL, but surprisingly, his 46-ball 89 could not help the Royal Challengers win the match.
Playing at Holkar Stadium, RCB won the toss and elected to bat. Shane Watson, Vishnu Vinod and Kedar Jadhav were back in the hut before the score touched 25. AB de Villiers then rebuilt the innings with Mandeep Singh. The duo built a 46-run partnership, where Mandeep scored 28 off 34.
After Mandeep's dismissal, de Villiers attacked the Punjab bowlers and guided RCB to 148/4 in 20 overs. The South African player smashed three fours and nine sixes in his knock. Unfortunately, RCB lost the match by eight wickets.
1. 82* (44) - IPL 2019, Bengaluru
The Royal Challengers Bangalore battled the Punjab Kings in Match 42 of IPL 2019 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The visitors won the toss and Ravichandran Ashwin decided to bowl first.
Parthiv Patel played a good knock of 43 runs at the top, but Punjab bounced back with four quick wickets and reduced RCB to 81/4. Marcus Stoinis then joined hands with AB de Villiers.
The two RCB stars had an unbeaten 111-run partnership to take RCB's score to 202/4. While Stoinis scored 46 off 34, de Villiers aggregated 82 runs off just 44 deliveries, whacking three fours and seven sixes.
The Royal Challengers eventually won the game by 17 runs, and a similar performance tonight could take them to the top of the IPL 2021 standings.
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