AB Devilliers and Virat Kohli stunning performance in IPL
Shares
BANGALORE, India, May 15 (APP): Leading cricketers hailed Virat
Kohli and teammate AB de Villiers after the pair smashed scintillating centuries in their Indian Premier League match to break a string of records.
India's Kohli struck a 55-ball 109 while South Africa's de Villiers
scored an unbeaten 52-ball 129 to power the Royal Challengers Bangalore to
a record 144-run victory over the stunned Gujarat Lions on Saturday night.
In front of a roaring crowd in Bangalore, the formidable duo scored
only the second ever centuries by batsmen in the same innings in Twenty20 cricket.
Kevin O'Brien (119) and Hamish Marshall (102) scored centuries
together for Gloucestershire against Middlesex in 2011.
Kohli and de Villiers added 229 for the second wicket on Saturday
night, the highest partnership in the history of T20 cricket.
The pair smashed their own record of 215, which they notched up
while playing for Bangalore against the Mumbai Indians during the 2015
IPL season.
Captain Kohli, who is in sizzling form with three centuries in the
current IPL, turned the attention on his partner, saying the South African had given him the confidence to power on.
"He's just an absolute legend. He gave me so much confidence in
there. I started off slowly but he just took over and you saw what he can do when he gets set," the 27-year-old said of de Villiers, who struck 10 four and 12 sixes.
The South African, for his part, paid credit to his wife, saying he
performed well whenever he knew that she was in the stands watching.
Teammate Chris Gayle congratulated the two batsman on Twitter,
describing their performance as "top knocks from 2 real champions".
