De Villiers continues on transcendant route

There is an urgency that AB de Villiers brings to the crease. Restless energy, but always full of positivity - in this mood he can murder an opposition and uplift his teammates in case they are stuck in a rut.

The South African was in one such mood today when he joined his captain Virat Kohli, with whom he had already shared one half-century and two century partnerships this IPL. It is easy to see intent on de Villiers' face most times. He wants to score and score fast. He reads the field quickly and picks his areas, but most importantly de Villiers picks his moments.

Ishant Sharma was bowling the final over of the powerplay. Having delivered a no ball off the second delivery, Ishant had recovered well by bowling an off stump yorker against Kohli that was guided into the off side for a single. On the next ball, de Villiers jumped out of his crease - even as Ishant bowled a short one into the body - to smash a pull over midwicket.

He could have even stayed back and played the same shot, but de Villiers's intent was to hurt the bowler mentally too. It also helped Kohli to make the bold move of charging Ishant on the final ball of the over with a slap to the third man boundary.

Some observers feel de Villiers plays too many premeditated strokes, but the element of surprise is always wrapped up nicely. When Ankit Sharma tossed one on the off stump he might have thought de Villiers would push him to the cover for a single. Instead the South African quickly moved outside the line of the ball to unleash a powerful sweep for his first six.

Even before he walked to the crease de Villiers had an advantage with his knowledge and success at the ground. In three previous matches in Pune, de Villiers has two half centuries: 50 not out against Pune Warriors in 2013 and 66 against Rajasthan Royals last year. So de Villiers was aware when he swept Ankit, he was trying to clear the shortest boundary in the ground.

Stunning the bowler is something de Villiers gets excited about quietly. When M Ashwin came to bowl immediately after the halfway stage, the South African took on Ashwin's first ball, picked his legbreak from the off stump and swept it over backward square deep into the stands. The expression on the legspinner's face showed what a batsman like de Villiers can do leave a bowler blindsided.

De Villiers was not yet done with the legspinner. As he was taking guard to face Ashwin in the 14th over, Dhoni moved Kevin Pietersen to square point. Ankit Sharma was at backward point, five yards to Pietersen's right. Dhoni asked Pietersen to go back a few yards. All of Dhoni's fine tuning left no impression on the South African. De Villiers reverse swept Ashwin exactly between the two fielders. To remind Dhoni that he had a lot more gaps to plug, de Villiers then swept Ashwin for an easy four between fine leg and deep square leg.

The beauty about de Villiers is he forces a change in mindset, be it the opposition bowler, captain, his own teammate or even a spectator. He makes one realise that boundaries can be pushed just by making the effort. Today, Kohli played the supporting act superbly, but de Villiers understood that if Royal Challengers needed a strong finish, Kohli had to not just bat till the end but also score runs.

De Villiers had noticed that Kohli was playing to his strengths, playing in the V, but he was not going the distance. De Villiers was frequently in his captain's ears, uttering the encouraging word and at one point, possibly, asking him to move down the off side and paddle sweep the ball past the fine leg that had been pulled inside.

The understanding between both men is very clear and the numbers support that fact. Both men also agree that they cannot stop running. They would rather be breathless than keep quiet. It means the opposition is left out of breath too in the process.

"Till you are allowing him a second run and sending AB to the non-striker's end, you are doing a good job," Ajinkya Rahane, Rising Pune Supergiants leading scorer on Friday, said with a smile. "The way cricket has moved forward and the way AB de Villiers bats the margin of error for the bowlers is very less. Our bowlers did not bowl that badly, but you need to give him the credit. You need to have a daring to reverse sweep and sweep the fast bowlers."

Among the various stand out characteristics about de Villiers is his sporting spirit. As soon as his South African teammate Faf du Plessis dived forward to interrupt his lofted drive at long-on in the 17th over, which saved a certain boundary, de Villiers tapped his bat to appreciate the fielder's effort.

When Harshal Patel had been hit for a six and four boundaries, de Villiers charged towards Harshal, took the ball, swept the dew off it, put an arm around the helpless bowler and asked him to keep his chin up. All the time keeping that smile on his face. His energy is both restless and boundless.