AB de Villiers' Blistering Century Gives Rangpur Riders a Much-Needed Win

Former South Africa skipper AB de Villiers was in full mood last night as he along with Alex Hales guided Rangpur Riders to a much-needed win against Dhaka Dynamites. Meanwhile, de Villiers and Hales shared a rollicking 184-run stand to overhaul the challenging target.

AB de Villiers, who failed in his first two innings of BPL 2019, finally exploded for a 50-ball unbeaten century. On the other hand, Hales clubbed an unbeaten 85 off 53 balls, including the winning runs. The South African came to the middle when their side was in a spot of bother losing Chris Gayle and Rilee Rossouw, the highest run-getter in this edition of BPL within their second over.

Since then, de Villiers and Alex Hales took over the charge to see their side home. AB de Villiers’ unbeaten knock of 50-ball 100 included eight fours and six over-boundaries while Hales smacked three sixes and eight boundaries. De Villiers took 24 balls to reach his half-century, and another 26 to reach three figures in a chanceless effort.

However, batting first, Dhaka Dynamites banked on contributions from their middle-order to post a mammoth total. Rony Talukdar topped the scoring chart with 52 runs off just 32 balls while Shakib Al Hasan played a quickfire 25 runs knock. In addition to, Kieron Pollard smacked five fours and one six to help the side post 186 on the board.

Important to win the game

Speaking at the post-match conference, AB de Villiers noted that for him it is essential to win games for your side and not personal milestones. Furthermore, he added that he is proud to bat till the end and finish the game for his team.

“It means nothing to me. I finished the game that means a lot to me. I was there for the team at the end and that’s why I play the game. I honestly don’t care about centuries, never have [and] never will. I am sorry to disappoint you.”

“It was special to finish the game. I batted in the middle order most of my career. If you look at the stats the middle order batsmen don’t score a lot of hundreds. I am proud to have finished the game for the team and stay not out,” he said.

Rangpur Riders will play their next game later today against Rajshahi Kings at Chattogram.