5 memorable moments from the Gujarat Lions-Royal Challengers Bangalore match that don't fade away

The Royal Challengers won a close match

If Sir Alex Ferguson was somehow related to cricket, the first thing he would have said after witnessing this game would be, “cricket, bloody hell!”

This was a game that defied all the norms. It is not normal for a team to post a target of 159 after their top order being dismantled to put them in an adverse position of 9/3. It is not normal for Virat Kohli to get out for a duck.

And it is certainly not normal for a team to win a game from being down and almost out at 29/5, that too with relative ease in the end.

However, it all happened. In a qualifier that went against the waves of regularity, AB de Villiers stood up like a mountain and did what he did best: produce a gem of an innings to win the game for his team from an almost impossible position.

In this match that had more turns than a roller coaster, there were plenty of memorable moments that don't fade away, quite like the Axe Signature range of body perfumes. Let's take a look:

1) Iqbal Abdulla’s brave all-round display

Abdulla was brilliant with bat and ball (Image credit: ESPN Cricinfo)

At first, he stunned the Lions with his bowling and upfront and then played a very handy innings with the bat later to take the considerable burden off AB de Villiers’ shoulders.

Given the ball in the second over itself, he nabbed the wicket of the dangerous Brendon McCullum in his very first ball. 3 balls later, another incredible hitter of the ball was taken out when Aaron Finch shot Abdulla's delivery down Chris Gayle’s throat.

Finally, when he came out to bat, it was in the worst of situations as Bangalore were reeling at 68 for 6. The required-rate was creeping up, so was the pressure. But he kept his composure to a superb 33 off 25 balls and provided AB de Villiers with the perfect partner.