AB de Villiers's hurricane 36-ball 77 and skipper Henry Davids' responsible 52 paved the way for Titans' challenging 185 for five against home favourites Chennai Super Kings in their Champions League Twenty20 match, here today.
Sent in to bat, South African T20 runners-up Titans built on the 39-ball 76-run partnership between Davids and de Villiers for the second wicket to post a competitive total at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium.
De Villiers played a whirlwind knock and treated the CSK bowlers with disdain. The right-hander was at his destructive best and blasted as many as seven sixes and three fours during his brutal display of strokeplay.
Even after the departure of Davids in the 14th over, de Villiers remained the star of the show and seemed in no mood to relent.
His innings saw Titans posting the highest total of the tournament till date.
De Villiers was particularly harsh on left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja as the bowler leaked 49 runs from his three overs.
Playing in front of CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni's home crowd, Titans started the proceedings on a confident note as Davids and Jacques Rudolph (21), who had scored a double hundred on his Test debut vs Bangladesh, put on 46 runs for the opening-wicket partnership.
Next man-in, de Villiers initially ran hard for ones and twos but once he hot his eyes set, he was unstoppable.
Davids carried on the good show as he smashed pacer Jason Holder for the game's first six over deep mid-wicket.
Titans reached 50 for one in the eighth over when Davids unleashed another massive heave over mid-wicket off Ravichandran Ashwin for a six.
De Villiers upped the ante with a big six over deep mid wicket off Jadeja and deposited another over mid-wicket fence off Dwayne Bravo to put the Titans past 100 mark in 12 overs.
Jadeja found himself at the receiving end as de Villiers treated him for two fours and a six in the 13th over to put his team in the driver's seat.
