BANGALORE – AB de Villiers was hailed Friday as a “spiderman” by captainVirat Kohli after making a breathtaking catch in the Indian Premier League.
The athletic South African leapt on the deep mid-wicket boundary to stop aball heading for a near-certain six and catch out Sunrisers Hyderabadbatsman Alex Hales.
Film of the catch quickly became a social media sensation, while DeVilliers fielding brilliance and a 39-ball 69 helped Royal ChallengersBangalore to a 14-run win over table-toppers Hyderabad. That kept them inthe race for the IPL play-offs.
“AB s catch was spiderman stuff, you don t do that as normal human beings,”an ecstatic Kohli said after his team s win.
“His shots still leave me in awe, the fielding unbelievable.”
De Villiers, who has accumulated 427 runs in 11 games including fivehalf-centuries modestly called it a “nice catch”.
“I made it look better than actually it was,” the 34-year-old said afterbeing adjudged man of the match.
“Got into a bad position, the ball had a bit of a curve on it. The minute Itook the jump, I realized a little bit of my body was outside. I just hadto put that right and luckily it stuck.”
The IPL s Twitter account also paid tribute, saying: “Superman playscricket. Superman is South African. Superman represents #RCB Superman.”
The season has seen several spectacular fielding performances with TrentBoult s catch at the boundary ropes last month also standing out.
The IPL final is on May 27 with four million dollars going to the winner. -APP/AFP