Sydney, Feb 27 (IANS) South African skipper A.B. De Villiers, who cracked 162 from 66 deliveries against West Indies in a Pool B World Cup encounter here, Friday said it was fellow team-mate Rilee Rossouw’s energy that inspired him to play such a knock.
“There’re quite a few things that played a role. The credit had to go to the guys upfront and Rilee’s energy inspired me. That affected me and I wanted to play like that and then I started timing the ball and it all came off,” said De Villiers.
In the 30th over, with South Africa at 146 for three, De Villiers joined left-hander Rossouw (61) in the middle and after building up his innings, ripped apart the West Indies bowling attack clobbering them for 78 runs in the last three overs, which included a 34 run over of Windies captain Jason Holder. But it was Rossouw who earlier started the onslaught with his power hitting.
They finally posted 408 for five with contributions from the other top order batsmen including fifties from Hashim Amla (65) and Faf du Plessis (62) too. West Indies failed to chase down the score and lost by 257 runs.
De Villierrs said watching the ball closely was the key to his success because as soon as he felt at ease in the middle he went after the bowlers.
“Watching the ball is very important, getting to know your own game, playing within your weaknesses and waiting to play to your strengths. I read the situation, I try to read the bowler and I understand my own momentum and I earn the right to go after the bowlers,” he said.