IPL 2016: Five things that stood out

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have taken the IPL by storm with their strokeplay

Like each of the previous eight editions, this year's IPL has also had its share of great performances and disappointments. There have been some great batting & bowling performances, athletic catches taken along with some inspirational displays of captaincy. 

Given the long duration of the tournament and the number of matches played, it will be difficult to single out one thing which we liked the most or missed the most in the IPL. Hence, we take a look at five top things which has stood out in this years Vivo IPL

#1 Batting of Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers became the first duo to both hit a century each in the same innings in the IPL

 

 

It is a well known fact that the T20 format as a whole favours the batsmen and as a result they are expected to perform well. But the batting of Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers has taken the level of batting to a different level altogether and also increased the disparity between the bat and the ball. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore’s turnaround in the tournament has been largely possible because of the batting of these two geniuses. They have put four century partnerships together and in fact the top three partnerships in the tournament belong to them (one of these being of over 200 runs).

With one match to go, the combined tally of runs scored by the two has already crossed 1600 runs. It is no surprise that the two occupy positions in the top three run scorers in this year’s IPL. While Kohli is at the top with four centuries and six fifties, ABD as he famously called is at number three (behind David Warner who is at number two) with one century and six fifties. 

One more brilliant performance from either of the two in the final will ensure that RCB becomes the champion of the IPL for the first time.