Steyn, De Villiers have a smashing time together

Times Media

TELFORD VICE, Johannesburg

Dale Steyn does not usually greet batsmen who have smashed him for 22 runs in a single over with an enthusiastic hug, but this was different.

The batsman was AB de Villiers, whose 89 not out off 41 balls powered Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory by four wickets over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Bangalore on Sunday.

Seldom is Steyn deposited for over square leg, over his head and over fine leg for six as well as through the covers for four in one over - much less by one player.

De Villiers’ dominance was acknowledged when Steyn applauded at the end of the bumper over, the 19th. When the teams shook hands after the match, Steyn wrapped his arms around his SA teammate and they shared a few words.

What can bowlers do when someone of De Villiers’ talent decides to take them on in a format in which they almost dare not speak their names?

“You’ve got to have go-to balls that you can dial up whenever you require them and stick with them,” former SA allrounder Craig Matthews said. “Bowlers tend to start making changes as soon as they are hit for four.

“Philosophically, sometimes people are going to get the better of you and you are going to disappear. But you can’t change the field for every ball and bowl a different delivery every time.”

De Villiers’ blast was the third-highest score of the tournament going into yesterday’s matches. But did it support or detract from SA coach Russell Domingo’s theory that De Villiers was at his most valuable to the T20 cause when he came in lower down the order and in the second half of the innings?

Both, it would seem. De Villiers took guard at No. 5 on Sunday - pundits have been calling for him to bat at first drop - but he did so after only 6.4 overs.

Later, Steyn, knowing De Villiers’ assault on him would fly high on social media, tweeted, “Am I trending yet? Ha-ha.”

Steyn is the No. 1 ranked test bowler and second in one-day internationals. However, he is 14th among T20 bowlers in international cricket - a reality reflected in his IPL statistics. He is joint fifth among wicket-takers, 25th in terms of economy rate, and 35th on the strike rate list.

But at least Steyn is still in the mix, unlike Jacques Kallis who was dropped by the Kolkata Knight Riders for their game against the Rajasthan Royals in Ahmedabad yesterday.

To add insult to that injury Kallis was replaced by Dutch international Ryan ten Doeschate, a player nowhere near his class.

Kallis scored 115 runs in his first three innings but has scraped together just 26 in his next three knocks. But the fact that Kolkata had lost four of their six games before yesterday probably carried as much weight in Kallis’ axing as his form.

“When you sign up a guy like Jacques Kallis, you’ve got to try and play him,” Matthews said. “Maybe they think he’s out of form and they want to give someone else a crack, but it does seem strange.”