Shreyas Gopal: The nemesis of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers

This was the second time when Shreyas Gopal dismissed both Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers in the same match.

No screams, no claps, no dash towards the teammates, just palms on the face in sheer disbelief: This was Shreyas Gopal’s reaction not once but twice in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Jaipur on Tuesday. The first was when he got rid of RCB captain Virat Kohli and the second one came an over later when AB de Villiers had to take the long walk back. Rajasthan Royals leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal dismissed both Kohli and de Villiers in successive overs and if that wasn’t a dream scenario for any bowler then wait till this. This was the second time he did so in two seasons of IPL. Yes, it would not be an overstatement to say that Gopal has got the number of Kohli and de Villiers, at least in IPL. In IPL 2018, Gopal had dismissed de Villiers twice and Kohli once. This year, he again got both of them with identical deliveries but in different manners. Kohli(23) was bowled through the gate when he tried to drive a wrong’un and de Villiers(13) ended up chipping the googly straight back to Gopal’s hands. "I feel a bit lucky at the moment. Everyone knows Kohli and AB are world-class players. And for a youngster like me to get both of them out, it's one of the biggest moments in my journey. Just gut feel (to bowl googlies), but it's important to mix wrong'uns and the leg break. Wanted to bowl stump-to-stump, and wanted them to hit down the ground off the back foot. The first-class season was important, and doing well over there got me confidence. We're bowling to much better batsmen here, yes, but the confidence helps," said Gopal after returning with figures of 3 for 12 in his four overs. Both de Villiers and Kohli have a distinct disadvantage when the leg spinner delivers it from the back of his hands. De Villiers averages 5.2 and strikes at 83.87 against the wrong'un in IPL since the last edition. Kohli averages six and strikes at 104.35. No wonder Gopal has been successful against these modern day greats.