Bengaluru, October 13: Ab de Villiers, who starred in Royal Challengers Bangalore's crushing 82-rin over Kolkata Knight Riders in Match 28 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 in Sharjah on Monday (October 12) has surpassed Chris Gayle to become the player with most man-of-the-match awards in tournament history.
The dashing South African smashed 73 not out off just 33 balls to get his side up to an imposing 194 for two with KKR, who were never in the run chase crawling to 112 for nine.
De Villiers blasted six sixes and five fours, reaching his half-century in 23 deliveries to be adjudged man of the match for the 22nd time in IPL history, overtaking West Indian maverick Gayle, who has been warming the bench for Kings XI Punjab so far.
Inside story of Superhuman 33-ball 73
Mumbai Indians captain and Indian batting star Rohit Sharma is third in the list with 19 man-of-the-match honours, followed by Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner (17) and Chennai Super Kings talisman Mahendra Singh Dhoni (17).
At the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday, Aaron Finch (47), Virat Kohli (33 no) and Devdutt Padikkal (32) also contributed, but it was De Villiers who very much took centre stage with his highest score against KKR.
RCB were 94 for two when De Villiers joined Kohli at the crease in the 13th over after Finch was cleaned up by a Prasidh Krishna yorker.
The mercurial South African upstaged captain Kohli with a breathtaking knock, twice launching Kamlesh Nagarkoti for six - one disappearing out of the ground - and taking 19 off the 17th over from Cummins.
De Villiers continued to dish out some brutal treatment, Andre Russell going for 34 off his final two overs in a stunning blitz to concede a half-century of runs.
Kohli was content to give De Villiers the strike and the wicketkeeper-batsman finished with a staggering strike rate of 221.21 to help set RCB a target beyond the reach of KKR, who were on a three-match winning streak as they were brought down to earth by the former South African skipper.