M58: RCB vs RR – Mandeep Singh 54* 1:41 35,078 Views AB de Villiers is a freak on a cricket pitch. Not many can do on those 22-yards what he can do with a bat in his hand. And when he gets going, there are very few who would leave their seats or switch off their television sets.

An AB in full flow is a feast for the eyes. But how would one feel watching the batting sensation from the best seat in the house? Ask young Mandeep Singh and he will begin to tell you about the AB experience from close quarters like a fan. On Wednesday night, in a crucial playoff encounter against the Rajasthan Royals, Mandeep Singh and his idol AB de Villiers spent close to fifty minutes together at the crease, carefully stitching a century stand to take their side to a formidable total of 180 in twenty overs.

As de Villiers carefully placed each stroke with poise, ‘keeping his head still’, Mandeep at the other end was taking mental notes of each segment of AB’s batting. Mandeep was not too far away from his very own stellar show of the night as he cruised his way to a fluent unbeaten half century. But, it was AB’s willow talk that has left Mandeep in awe.

He has witnessed a few already in the tournament, but tonight he had seen it from closer proximity. “There are a lot of things that I try to do like AB,” Mandeep begins to speak of his awe of de Villiers to iplt20.com.

“I want to have my head still the way he does in each shot,” he says impersonating the way AB has his head still. “I have learnt a lot from him already and whatever he has taught me, I have straightaway incorporated those things in my game. It is already helping me in my game and I can see a lot of positive results in my batting.

” One thing in particular that Mandeep stresses about is the stillness of the head he has managed to get into his game after some advice from de Villiers. “I have worked on the balance of my head. Initially when I was playing my shots, the completion of the shot would end with my head leaning towards the off-stump,” Mandeep begins explaining it in actions.

“I spoke to him regarding the same and asked him for suggestions to improve that aspect. I initially used to think that the arms go wider while playing your shots and that’s the reason your head tends to fall. He cleared that cloud around me and asked me to have my head still around the middle stump after the completion of a shot.

These are very technical details but these are the things that I have learnt and am trying to improve on.” The improvement is there to be seen. A few weeks back Mandeep notched up a match-winning unbeaten 45 to take his side home against the Kolkata Knight Riders in a 10-over thriller.

Against the Rajasthan Royals, he got a notch better with his first half century of the season. “This half century is very satisfying because we wanted to get a score of 150 plus on this pitch and I was happy to stay there right till the very end.AB de Villiers and I thought that anything around 150 would be great and finishing on 180 was very satisfying.

I think the occasion of this innings makes it a lot more valuable. Getting an important knock in the eliminator is really heartening because it was a big occasion. I feel I played really well in this game.

”Speaking about sharing batting space with de Villiers in the century stand, Mandeep said, “When we were just around 60 runs in ten overs, we just wanted to bat and try to build a partnership from there on. We wanted to keep things simple and watch the ball closely and hit it. I knew if AB spent a little more time in the middle, he would get ruthless in the end.

I had the confidence that AB would see us through.” Still reeling under that momentous partnership, Mandeep cannot stop talking about AB. “I think even modern day cricketers consider him his idol.

It is like a dream come true to be playing with him.”.

Source: http://www.iplt20.com/news/2015/features/6921/how-hussey-msd-orchestrated-csks-chase