Bengaluru, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers roared back to form as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) found their mojo to post a mammoth 205/3 in 20 overs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their Indian Premier League (IPL) clash here on Friday.
Kohli struck a 49-ball 84 (4×9, 6×2) while De Villiers hit a 32-ball 63 (4×5, 6×4) as the famed pair stitched together a 108-run stand for the second wicket to treat the packed crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium to a spectacle.
Kohli was dropped by Sunil Narine on 35 while Lockie Ferguson could not hold on to a tough De Villiers catch when he was batting on 11.
The duo made the most of their second lives and with Marcus Stoinis hitting a 13-ball 28, RCB scored 127 runs in the last 10 overs.
This was Kohli’s 35th IPL fifty as the India skipper went past Suresh Raina to become the T20 meet’s highest ever run-getter.
While Kohli brought up his half-century in 31 balls, De Villiers took 28 deliveries to get there.
Kohli looked in sublime touch from the word go, milking Prasidh Krishna for two consecutive boundaries off the first two balls he faced.
In the fourth over, Kohli made light of Ferguson’s tearing pace to find the fence thrice as the hosts raced to 53/0 in six overs.
Parthiv Patel (25) also looked good to continue his rich vein of form but part-time spinner Nitish Rana cut short his stay by trapping him plumb in front in the eighth over.
In the first ball of the same over, Rana could have sent Kohli back in the hut as well but Narine dropped him at short midwicket.
Making the most of the reprieve, the Indian captain went from strength to strength, hitting Kuldeep Yadav four a four in the 10th over as RCB were 78/1 at the halfway stage.
Kohli brought his half century off 31 deliveries in the next over with a delicate late cut off Piyush Chawla for a four.
De Villiers then joined the party after Ferguson grassed a difficult chance running in from long on off Kuldeep in the 12th over.
From there on, De Villiers switched gears like only he can to hit Narine for two fours in the next over and two sixes off Andre Russell in the 14th over as the West Indian leaked 16 runs.
Rana was then taken for 18 runs as the pair went berserk to add 94 runs in seven overs before Kohli was caught and bowled by Kuldeep.
After Kohli’s dismissal, KKR tried to stem the flow of runs and when De Villiers holed out to Shubman Gill on the extra cover boundary off Narine, it looked possible.
But Stoinis hit 18 off Prasidh Krishna’s last over to guide his team past the 200-run mark.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 205/3 (Virat Kohli 84, AB de Villiers 63; Nitish Rana 1/22) vs Kolkata Knight Riders.
