Twitter Reactions: AB de Villiers' swashbuckling knock keeps Brisbane Heat hopes alive

Brisbane Heat came face to face against Melbourne Stars in a BBL game. It turned out to be a one-sided affair as visitors’ defeated the hosts’ by a margin of 71 runs. AB de Villiers emerged as the star for the day, who played a blistering knock of 71 runs. This defeat also marked the third consecutive loss for Maxwell and Co. in the ongoing tournament.

Earlier, the visitors won the toss and elected to bat. Heat opener Sam Heazlett came to bat with an aggressive approach as he smacked 18 runs off seven balls with four boundaries. Soon, Stars leg-spinner Adam Zampa castled dangerous-looking right-handed opener in the second over of the innings.

Zampa helped his side in getting the second breakthrough in the match, as he dismissed Ben Cutting (22 runs off 22 balls). Chris Lynn scored 34 runs before his slow knock came to a halt. Later on, AB de Villiers set the stage on fire with his mesmerizing batting display. He made the mockery of Stars bowlers’ with his merciless hitting. The former Proteas international played a swashbuckling knock of 71 runs off 37 balls studded with six massive sixes and two boundaries.

In the end, Heat successfully posted a mammoth total of 186 runs for a loss of five wickets in stipulated 20 overs courtesy De Villiers’ knock. Adam Zampa turned out to be the best bowler for his side, as he registered brilliant bowling figures of 3/27.

Melbourne Stars suffered third consecutive defeat in BBL 2019-20 

Coming onto the chase, Stars got off to a poor start as their openers failed to score good runs with the bat. The right-handed fast bowler James Pattinson dismissed both the openers Marcus Stoinis and Seb Gotch in the fourth over of the innings. Nick Larkin (22 runs off 22 balls) and Peter Handscomb (27 runs off 18 balls) tried to stitch a good partnership that might help their side in winning the game but that was not the case. After their departure, none of the batsmen did well.

Heat spinner Mitchell Swepson came with a bang on performance with the ball as he dismissed hosts’ skipper Glenn Maxwell and Nic Maddinson in the same over that shattered the hopes of Stars winning the game. Moreover, Maxwell and Co. failed to play a total of 20 overs and the whole team got dismissed in 17.4 over on a score of 115 runs. It also marked their third consecutive defeat.

Swepson managed to grab three wickets in the game and ended up with amazing bowling figures of 3/31. And, AB de Villiers was awarded Man of the Match for his magical knock. The Brisbane Heat hopes are still alive to qualify into the further stage of BBL 2019-20. They grabbed two important points by winning the game against Melbourne Stars and went to the sixth position in the points table.

Here is how Twitter reacted: