A partnership of astronomical proportions and individual centuries by Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were the highlights of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s commanding win over the Gujarat Lions on Saturday evening. After being put in to bat, RCB posted a season-high total of 248-3 before they demolished the visitors for 104, thereby winning by a whopping 144 runs – the biggest margin of win in the IPL.
At the start of their innings, RCB were slow off the blocks, scoring only 10 runs in the first three overs for the loss of Chris Gayle’s wicket. It appeared then that the pitch wasn’t the typical batting paradise one comes across at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. But that didn’t apply to Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, who took the level of batting to another level altogether. Kohli and de Villiers stitched together a 229-run partnership – the biggest ever partnership in T20 cricket to put their team in the driver’s seat.
While Kohli took time to gauge the conditions, de Villiers teed off from the moment he set foot on the park; the latter smashed the second ball he faced over the cover boundary. Runs came thick and fast thereafter and the ball started to travel into and over the boundary hoardings at alarmingly regular intervals.
The South African was unstoppable and picked up boundaries at will; he walked out to bat in the fourth over when Kohli was 12 from 10 balls, but was the first to reach the 50-run mark. de Villiers brought up his half-century in the twelfth over, needing only 25 balls to get there. He continued to pummel the Lions bowlers and brought up his century in the 16th over – needing a further 18 balls to score his last 50 runs. By the time he had reached three figures, he had hit nine fours and eight sixes.
It was trouble from both sides for the visitors as Kohli joined in the act towards the final stages of the innings. At the end of the 17th over, de Villiers was 112 when Kohli was 52; but courtesy the 30 runs he scored off Shivil Kaushik in the 19th over, the RCB captain had raced to 95 with six deliveries remaining to be bowled in the innings. Virat brought up his hundred – the third of the season – in style, when he hit a Praveen Kumar delivery straight into the sight screen. It needed a spectacular act to put an end to a special innings, and Dwayne Bravo came up with one such performance when he held on to a catch at square leg. Virat was dismissed, but not before he had scored 109 from 55 balls. His partnership with de Villiers as worth 229 runs and it came at a rate of 14.31 runs per over.
AB de Villiers remained unbeaten at 129, made from 52 balls and he peppered the Chinnaswamy Stadium with 10 fours and 12 sixes. RCB added 112 runs in the last five overs, eventually finishing at 248-3.
After the mauling they received in the first half of the contest, it was hard to see the Lions staging a comeback. And their task was made more difficult by some disciplined bowling from the home side’s bowlers. When Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum (captaining the Lions in Suresh Raina’s absence) were dismissed within the five overs, the writing was on the wall for the Lions. Aaron Finch’s 37 was the highest score of the innings as the Lions were bowled out for 104 in 18.4 overs.
For Royal Challengers Bangalore, Sreenath Arvind provided the initial strike, before Yuzvendra Chahal (3-19) and Chris Jordan (4-11) joined hands to destroy the Lions middle-order. Sachin Baby was brought on as the ninth bowler and he took walked away with two scalps.
Royal Challengers Bangalore – 248-3 in 20.0 Overs (Virat Kohli 109, AB de Villiers 129*)
Gujarat Lions – 104 in 18.4 overs (Aaron Finch 37, Yuzvendra Chahal 3-19, Chris Jordan 4-11) by 144 runs.
Man of the Match: AB de Villiers, for his 52-ball 129.
- The 229-run partnership between Virat Kohli & AB de Villiers was the highest partnership (for all wickets) in T20 cricket.
- Virat Kohli became the first player to score 3 centuries in an IPL season.
- The 20 sixes hit in the RCB innings were the most sixes hit in an innings in the IPL.
- The RCB innings – which contained centuries from Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers – was the first time an IPL innings had two centurions.
- RCB’s 248-3 was the second-highest total in the IPL.
- RCB’s 144-run win was the biggest margin of win in the IPL.
