Don’t care about centuries: De Villiers

Hailed as Mr.360 for his ability to hit the bowlers all around the park, AB de Villiers, scored an unbeaten 50-ball 100-run knock and helped Rangpur Riders chase a challenging 186-run target very comfortably and win by eight wickets against the Dhaka Dynamites at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram yesterday.

While in chase of a challenging total, De Villiers came to the crease when Rangpur were in a spot of bother  having lost their opener Chris Gayle and Rilee Rossouw -- the highest run-getter in this edition of BPL -- in the second over of the game. From there, opener Alex Hales and de Villiers remained unbeaten till the end as they built a 184-run third-wicket stand -- the highest partnership in this edition of BPL-- to see their side over the winning line.

However, de Villiers told at the post-match conference that it is more important for him to see his side win the game than the ton he scored.

"It means nothing to me. I finished the game that means a lot to me. I was there for the team at the end and that's why I play the game. I honestly don't care about centuries, never have [and] never will. I am sorry to disappoint you."

"It was special to finish the game. I batted in the middle order most of my career. If you look at the stats the middle order batsmen don't score a lot of hundreds. I am proud to have finished the game for the team and stay not out.

During the record third-wicket partnership between Hales and de Villiers, the former also looked exquisite throughout on his way to scoring 85 off just 53 balls. Hales had the chance to score two centuries in a row as he had scored one in the previous game against Chittagong Vikings. De Villiers had asked Hales to go for it but the Englishman also shared similar thoughts on scoring centuries as his partner.

"I told Alex [Hales] to get his hundred there so he can have two in a row and he said no. He also doesn't care about hundreds. So we just played normal cricket till the end."