CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 07: AB de Villiers of the Proteas during the 4th ODI between South Africa and Sri Lanka at PPC Newlands. on February 07, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images)
IPL Watch: De Villiers & Tahir lead South Africa’s T20 cricket stars
Check out all the latest T20 action from India with a South African slant – as our players bring some essential Protea fire to the biggest cricket show on earth over the coming weeks.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 07: AB de Villiers of the Proteas during the 4th ODI between South Africa and Sri Lanka at PPC Newlands. on February 07, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Carl Fourie/Gallo Images)
As the first week of the Indian Premier League draws to a close, we take a look at the fortunes of players flying the flag for the Rainbow Nation in the tenth edition of the tournament.
There aren’t many batsmen who can fill the shoes of Chris Gayle, but AB de Villiers most certainly can. He filled his own boots with 89 not out off just 46 balls, countering not only the opposition, but also his Royal Challengers Bangalore colleagues’ ineptitude with the bat against Kings XI Punjab.
Their 148 all out on Monday in Indore was never enough, with Tabraiz Shamsi left on the sidelines, as Hashim Amla went on to prove.
After his mate’s fireworks earlier, Amla did what Amla does – steady-handedly guiding his side to victory with an unbeaten 38-ball 58.
So steady, in fact – with a little help from Aussie Glenn Maxwell – that David Miller didn’t even get a go. Shame.
Miller did take his side home with an unbeaten 30 in their opener against Rising Pune Supergiant, however, with Amla contributing 28 at the top of the order.
Speaking of Supergiants, Imran Tahir has put in a couple of sizeable performances already, having amazingly gone unsold in the original auction.
The veteran popped up with a couple of wickets against Kings XI, after demolishing the Mumbai Indians’ top three of Parthiv Patel, Jos Buttler and Rohit Sharma on his way to figures of 3/28 in game two of the competition.
‘But what about Faf du Plessis?’ we hear you cry. Unused so far, but expect to see South Africa’s captain in action soon.
Finally, what do you do when you’ve splashed out a mega sum of money on a superstar player? Leave him out, of course! That was the fate of hotshot Kagiso Rabada as his Delhi Daredevils opened up with a 15-run defeat to the Royal Challengers last Saturday.
One South African they did pick, though, was Chris Morris, who repaid the faith with an outstanding four-over spell of 3/21, including the prized wicket of West Indian Gayle.
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