IPL 2018: AB de Villiers becomes 'Superman' near boundary ropes, fans claim he's extraterrestrial

Bengaluru, May 17: After entertaining the audiences with his superlative batting, South African batting maestro AB de Villiers once again proved how good he is in the field against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 match here on Thursday (May 17).

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The 34-year-old Superman from South Africa once again displayed his acrobatic effort in the field after taking brilliant one-handed catch near boundary ropes to convert the maximum from Alex Hales into a wicket.

Showing his presence of mind near the boundary, ABD leapt at the ball and stuck it up his right hand and even managed to land back within the ropes. Hales could do all but stare in disbelief as his six was converted into his dismissal.

RCB skipper Virat Kohli was amazed watching de Villiers' incredible effort near the boundary ropes and ran towards the big man in excitement. His catch was applauded by former South Africa fielding legend Jonty Rhodes who couldn't hide his excitement.

This is how cricketers reacted after ABD pulled off a Superman-like effort:

#insane #ABD #whatacatch @ABdeVilliers17

— Jonty Rhodes (@JontyRhodes8) May 17, 2018

Superman plays cricket.
Superman is South African.
Superman represents #RCB
Superman = @ABdeVilliers17 #RCBvSRH #VIVOIPL pic.twitter.com/IluByL4oD8

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) May 17, 2018

Can’t keep ABD out of the game... wow!

— Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) May 17, 2018

Whatttaaaa catch, That to me was THE CATCH of this #IPL2018 and that too... by a mile....#ABD #RCBvSRH #Mr360

— subramani badrinath (@s_badrinath) May 17, 2018

If any one asks why we call ABD a superman just show them this catch of hales... #ABD #SRHvsRCB #IPL11

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) May 17, 2018

Magician . #ABD. You've got to be here to hear the chant!

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 17, 2018

Ladies and gentlemen, AB competition badh gayi! #RCBvSRH #BESTvsBEST pic.twitter.com/mA2eCYgQ5W

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) May 17, 2018

Un.....frikkin....believable....AB, you’re from another planet. Or may be, from a different stratosphere #RCBvSRH #IPL

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) May 17, 2018

Earlier, De Villiers and Moeen Ali smashed quickfire half-centuries to propel RCB to an imposing 218 for six against table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad in a must-win match. Sent into bat, De Villiers (69 off 39) and Ali (65 off 34) overcame a bad start to stitch 107 runs off just 57 balls for the third wicket to set the platform for RCB's total.

De Villiers got into the act for RCB, hitting some exquisite boundaries off Shakib Al Hasan and Sandeep before Rashid cleaned up skipper Virat Kohli (12) with a googly in the fifth over.

De Villiers, who struck as many as 12 fours and one six, brought up his fifty off 32 balls with two consecutive boundaries off Kaul (2/44) in the 12th over and then Ali followed suit notching up his maiden IPL half-century with a four of Thampi in the next over.

De Villiers perished in search of a big shot caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep square leg while Ali reverse-paddled a delivery to Sreevats Goswami behind the stumps a ball later.