AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli power Royal Challengers Bangalore to 185 for 3 against Rising Pune Supergiants, IPL 2016

AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli have powered Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 185 for 3 in their 20 overs, in Match 16 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2016 at Pune. Both batsmen put on their fourth 50-plus partnership in as many matches in this edition of the IPL. They put on 155 runs for the second wicket and due to this, RCB managed to get a substantial score on the board. KL Rahul opened the innings with Kohli once again, but he was dismissed for just 7 after he top-edged a ball to third man of Thisara Perera. Kohli and de Villiers then got together and took the bowlers apart. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: Rising Pune Supergiants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2016, Match 16 at Pune

With one side of the field on the square on the smaller side, de Villieres took full advantage of it as a couple of top-edged shots off spinners went over the fence. Kohli was dropped on 50 in the 16th over by Ankit Sharma at mid-off as he could not judge the ball, which went very high in the air. Kohli was going at just run-a-ball, but de Villiers made up for it as he was striking at close to 190 at that stage. Live Cricket Updates Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) IPL 2016

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MS Dhoni in the meantime showed off his reflexes behind the wickets, stopping the ball with his right leg once against, just like he did against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) earlier in the tournament. RPS bowlers were finding it difficult to get a breakthrough. Murugan Ashwin, who is among the leading wicket-takers in the tournament was targeted by the batsmen. He took quite a pounding, finishing with none for 29 in his two overs. It was Thisara Perera, who had started things of well for RPS but went for a few in the death overs, he however managed to get rid of Kohli and de VIlliers in the final over off consecutive deliveries to give RPS some respite. But Ishant Sharma’s poor form continued as he went for 47 runs in his four overs.

RCB despite having nine wickets in hand for most stages in the match, with two set batsmen will feel that they should have scored a further 15-20 runs.

Earlier, MS Dhoni had won the toss and elected to bowl first. Kohli’s poor luck with the toss carried on as he lost the toss once again. Both teams had made changes to their playing XI. RPS had brought in all-rounder Rajat Bhatia in place of Irfan Pathan. RCB on the other hand have roped in Mandeep in place of Varun Aaron. Tabraiz Shamsi, who was called up as a replacement for Samuel Badree in the RCB squad, comes in place of Travis Head.

Brief Scores:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 185 for 3 in 20 Overs (Virat Kohli 80, AB de Villiers 83; Thisara Perera 3 for 34) vs Rising Pune Supergiants.

Full Scorecard

(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)