Chants of ‘ABD, ABD’ rang loud and fluttering red flags in support of the home team – Royal Challengers Bangalore – set things up nicely at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.

All it needed was for either Kohli or de Villiers to make it a night to remember for the fans. On the night, it was the South African’s turn.

“I think when he is batting, our job is actually simple because we know how much capability he has.”

The praise came in from the opposition camp too, including from Rishabh Pant, who might have finished on the other end of the result on another day after smashing a 48-ball 85.

“This is how T20 games go on, I played well, but AB was the difference between the two teams,” he said. “We managed a decent score but in the second innings, the excellent batting of AB made the difference. I am just trying to learn from AB and Virat, how easily they score runs.”