AB de Villiers registers 6th golden duck in IPL as Russell cleans him up with fiery yorker in KKR vs RCB clash - Watch

Kolkata Knight Riders had quite the start against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Match 31 of the IPL 2021. After Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat, things did not exactly go as per plan as KKR had RCB at 52/4 in nine overs. Captain Kohli went for 5 after getting out LBW to Prasidh Krishna, Devdutt Padikkal gloves Lockie Ferguson to Dinesh Karthik and debutant KS Bharat was out caught in the deep.

However, all these dismissals pale in comparison to the one Andre Russell orchestrated on AB de Villiers. Used sporadically with the ball, Russell looked supremely fit while bowling, and it was evident by the pace which he was generating. After getting Bharat out for 16, Russell grew in confidence, and bowled a spectacular – gold of a delivery – to dismiss Mr. 360 degree de Villiers for a golden duck. This is de Villiers's 6th golden duck in the IPL to go with 10 overall ducks.

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De Villiers smoked a century in the recently played intra-squad warm-up game within the RCB camp, but when it came to the big stage, the former South Africa captain endured a first-ball duck. In at the crease, de Villiers received a fiery, quick yorker which beat him all ends up. It was a top yorker aimed at the leg stump. De Villiers tried to whip the ball but it sneaked through his bat and hit the pads before hitting the stumps. De Villiers had absolutely no answer to it.

Prior to the start of the match, de Villiers had mentioned that at his stage, lack of match practice is not the ideal scenario to be in and that a little warm-up and exercise can only help that much.

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"No competitive cricket, no international cricket, you get to a certain age or stage in your career where it becomes a lot more mental and there's hard work behind closed doors which no one knows of. Some gym work, some treadmill work, it's fun to get ready for a tournament like this. You can't just arrive here not doing anything, you got to be 100% ready and try and be as good as you can," he had said.