Meet the man who predicted AB de Villiers' first ever golden duck in one-dayers

AB de Villiers registered his first ever golden duck in One Day Internationals.

Published - 09 Jun 2017, 12:55 IST | Updated - 09 Jun 2017, 12:55 IST

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Not many would have given Pakistan a chance against the might of the South Africans during their Group B clash in the ICC Champions Trophy. But fewer would have expected Mr. 360, better known as AB de Villiers, to register his very first golden duck in One Day Internationals. One man, however, knew this was coming. Let’s check out how.

AB de Villiers’ surprising golden duck

Pakistan had a vice-like grip over the world no.1 ranked team South Africa in the first innings. Runs were hard to come by, and wickets fell at regular intervals. After having been smacked by Hardik Pandya for three consecutive sixes in the India-Pakistan encounter, Imad Wasim came back to become the man with the golden arm for Pakistan.

AB de Villiers walked in to bat when South Africa were struggling at 60-2 at the end of 14 overs. He spent 5 minutes out in the middle watching from the no-striker’s end before a single allowed him to face his first delivery of the day. However, that first delivery turned out to be his last as Imad Wasim dismissed him for a golden duck. Mohammed Hafeez took a neat catch, much to the delight of the Pakistanis who watched AB de Villiers make the long walk back to the dressing room.

Abdullah – the sooth-sayer

This was the story of his dismissal, but where exactly does the predictor feature? It all began on the previous day when a Pakistani journalist named Syed Yahya Hussaini shared a picture of himself alongside de Villiers on 6 June. Meanwhile, a man named Abdullah, whose Twitter handle is @iMangoPakistani, predicted a golden duck for ABD against Pakistan, in reply to Hussaini’s selfie.

With @OfficialCSA captain @ABdeVilliers17 pic.twitter.com/2eSxiOBG8V
— Syed Yahya Hussaini (@SYahyaHussaini) June 6, 2017

And lo and behold, Abdullah turned out to be right! In fact, there was more sensation to his prediction because ABD actually got out for a golden duck, something which he hadn’t faced for 211 innings.

Quite understandably, Abdullah became an overnight star, with his tweet garnering a lot of attention on the micro-blogging website. Some were in sheer awe of his prediction, while others labelled Hussaini as a bad omen for players who get clicked with him.

AB de Villiers will score duck tomorrow pic.twitter.com/x0F20yQvvq
— Abdullah (@iMangoPakistani) June 6, 2017

The trolls followed, and Twitterati’s creativity was back in the forefront. As for Abdullah, he would have probably opened up his own sooth-saying stall by now in Pakistan.