Published: May 14, 2016, 08:24 PM (IST)
Edited: May 14, 2016, 08:36 PM (IST)
AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli tons guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to their fifth win of the season which came against Gujarat Lions in the 44th game of the Indian Premier League at Bengaluru on Saturday. It’s a record win for the RCB as they won the thrilling encounter by 144 runs. It was all about De Villiers and Kohli’s magnificent batting as there was an absolute carnage on the GL bowlers. They wreck havoc with their elegant batting and stunned everyone with some big hitting. READ MORE: IPL 2016, Match 44, Pick of the tweets: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Lions at Bengaluru
For the eight time out of 11 games, Kohli lost the toss due to which he was asked to get the runs of board first by BRendon McCullum who was leading the GL side in the absence of Suresh Raina. The pitch looked green and gave an impression that it might assist the seamers. Chris Gayle once again didn’t manage to make any impact as he was dismissed early on in the innings. Virat Kohli continued his good form and went on to score his third ton this season and helped his side put a dominant total on the board. READ MORE: Twitter reacts to AB de Villiers’ captivating innings against Gujarat Lions at Bengaluru
De Villiers looked unstoppable right from outset and got the ball rolling. He didn’t take any time to get himself in as he took on the GL bowlers for cleaners. The duo accounted for 229 runs in just 96 balls put themselves on the driving seat. GL bowlers had a tough day out in the middle as the duo were brutal and showed no mercy whatsoever. RCB posted 243 in their 20 overs and all their bowlers had to do was keep things tight. READ MORE: Twitterati hail King Kohli for his third ton in IPL 9
Chasing 249 is always going to be an arduous task for GL but they failed to put up a battle as they were dismantled out for 104. RCB bowlers did a commendable job with the ball as they not only chipped early wickets but kept chipping at regular intervals. Yuzvendra Chahal bowled beautifully and scalped three wickets while Chris Jordan steamed in and scalped four to his name.
Thier bowling has got a boost with this win which will further help them in the tournament. Srinath Aravind was also instrumental with the new ball and Sachin Baby also contributed with couple of wickets. Aaron Finch played a good hand but the target like a montain to climb for them.
Turning Point: The fall of Chris Gayle put RCB on the back foot and GL should have looked to capitalise on this which they failed to do. De Villiers and Kohli stitched 229 runs partnership between them and sealed the game for RCB with their wide range of strokes. GL never recovered from this damage as they kept languishing after this.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 248 for 3 in 20 overs [Virat Kohli 109(55), AB de Villiers 129(52); Praveen Kumar 4-1-45-2, Dhawal Kulkarni 3-0-33- 1] beat Gujarat Lions 104 all out in 18.4 overs [Aaron Finch 37(38), Ravindra Jadeja 21(19); Chris Jordan 3-0-11-4, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-19-3] by 144 runs.
