Captain AB de Villiers, the 41-year-old, seemed like a 20-year-old among other older cricketers as South Africa Champions achieved their second consecutive win in the ongoing World Championship of Legends (WCL) against India Champions in Northampton. India Champions surrendered with the bat, chasing a huge score of 209. The game belonged to de Villiers for an all-round show; however, the moment of the match came in the field when de Villiers rolled back years with a diving effort on the boundary.
The incident took place on the first ball of the eighth over of the India Champions' innings, bowled by Imran Tahir. Since the Men in Blue were falling really behind on the run rate, they needed to accelerate and Yusuf Pathan went after a googly from Tahir first up. Pathan thought he had made a good connection, and it did cover a good distance, only for AB de Villiers to reach there.
De Villiers, who was patrolling the long-on boundary, made a run for it, caught the ball but realised soon enough that the momentum might take him over the rope, had the presence of mind quick enough while sliding into the cushions to quickly throw it back to Sarel Erwee, who completed a magnificent relay catch. Tahir was cock-a-hoop and the commentators couldn't stop appreciating the 41-year-old's acrobatics near the rope.
Watch the video here:
Pathan was one of two victims for Tahir for the night as the wily old leggie also took the final wicket of Vinay Kumar, before the floodlights went down and South Africa were declared winners by 88 runs (DLS method).
De Villiers, with a scintillating unbeaten 63 off just 30 balls laid the foundation of the win for South Africa Champions as they finished with an above-par score of 208, recovering from 118/5 at one point. JJ Smuts, with a 17-ball 30, also played a crucial role before the haphazard India Champions' batting effort handed de Villiers and Co an easy win.
