AB de Villiers's family arrived a little after the Royal Challengers Bangalore's innings began at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after they were asked to bat. His mother, father and wife made it in time to watch something remarkable from two of the best contemporary batsmens in the world. De Villiers and Virat Kohli tampered Gujarat Lions whilst scoring respective centuries in what a brilliant & biggest Twenty20 partnership ever - 229 runs off just 97 balls, two kings own record of an unbeaten 215 that was set last year.
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Watch AB DV Innings 129* (52)
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The massive stand laid the platform for the hosts' victory as Lions buckled under pressure and folded for 104-all out, succumbing to an Indian Premier League record defeat by 144 runs. The landslide victory will provide the Royal Challengers with a massive boost to their run rate.
The hosts were 19 for 1 in the fourth over after Chris Gayle was dismissed for his eighth successive single-digit T20 score. From that, to scoring the second-highest total in the Indian Premier League - they got 248 on the board on Saturday (May 14), took an extraordinary effort from the Royal Challengers. This was the second time that two T20 centuries were scored in the same innings, after the game between Gloucestershire and Middlesex at Uxbridge in 2011.
Brad Hodge, Gujarat Lions's coach, on the eve of the clash had said that his side had a set of match-winners that could match Virat Kohli's side's power, but with a daunting target, as the one they were faced with, would have been enough to deflate a side, especially given the defencelessness they were made to feel by just two men from the opposition. In the end, the Lions fumbled to a whopping 144-run loss, which worsened their already-negative net run rate .
With Gayle having departed early once again, it was up to the golden pair of Kohli and de Villiers to steady the Bangalore ship - as they have done one too many times over the years. Dark clouds soared above the stadium, whilst parts of Bangalore received brief showers. The clouds, however, drifted away as quickly as they came in to let de Villiers weave his magic.
De Villiers went after Gujarat's spinners immediately, who were introduced into the attack in the fifth over, smashing youngster Shivil Kaushik for a six to kickstart his carnage. Pravin Tambe, who came in from the other end, was then given a tour of the de Villiers's school of shot-making.
First, he moved towards the leg side and opened the face of the bat on the drive to send it through the square region on the off-side for four. He backed that up with a shuffle across his stumps and lapped a pull over fine leg for a six. The signs of the innings being one to remember were right there.
With de Villiers in his trademark massacre zone, there was little Brendon McCullum, the stand-in captain for Suresh Raina, could do but watch in awe. De Villiers soon scaled the 3000-run mark in the IPL - the third overseas player to do so after David Warner and Gayle.
While Kohli was trudging along at a run-a-ball 20, and playing the supporting role, de Villiers capitalised on the start he got and caused an upheaval in Gujarat's bowling unit. Bangalore were 76 for 1 at the halfway stage, after which, the hordes of spectators, and also the visible empty seats on the lower tiers at the venue, saw a massive shift in proceedings.
A monstrous 172 runs were scored off the last ten overs with a record 112 coming in the last five - the highest in the IPL. Gujarat's fielders were mere spectators as the ball soared over the fence as many as 20 times, while the others dissected fielders to perfection in pursuit of the fence.
It all began when Dhawal Kulkarni returned in the 12th over which read: 6,1,6,4,4,1 when de Villiers reached his half-century in 25 balls, bringing up Bangalore's hundred.
De Villiers milked the cover regions for his runs. While Ravindra Jadeja got some turn, the batsmen found ways of charging against it. Kohli, the top run-getter this season, reached another half-century off 39 balls, registering the most number of fifties in Bangalore with his 15th.
Pravin Kumar, who returned after his first overs upfront, was taken to the cleaners by de Villiers - scoring 23 runs of the over, racing to his fastest, and third, century of the IPL, which came off just 43 balls. Jadeja bowled as many as nine dots to de Villiers, which makes his knock of an unbeaten 129 off 52, which comprised of 12 sixes and 10 fours, all the more astonishing.
Kohli was 52 off 41 at the end of the 17th over. The following over from Dwayne Bravo yielded 30 runs. The next, bowled by Shivil Kaushik, went for as much. In the span of two overs, Kohli had charged away to 95 off 51. He then smashed Pravin for a six in the final over to reach his third century in the last seven innings; his second against Gujarat, before being dismissed for 109 off 55. While Bravo was taken for 46 in three overs, Kaushik conceded 50 in as many.
For a change, Bangalore's bowlers were all over the opposition's batsmen from the outset with momentum and confidence on their side. Dwayne Smith was bowled by S Aravind in the second over, following which Jadeja came out to bat at No.3 instead of Aaron Finch. If Gujarat had to even stand a slim chance of chasing this colossal total down, McCullum and Finch needed to get them off to a blinder. Yuzvendra Chahal struck in his opening over as McCullum (11) handed de Villiers an easy catch at long on, all but ending Gujarat's hopes.
Dinesh Karthik (2) and Jadeja (21) then were sent back in in consecutive balls by Chris Jordan before Chahal returned to send back Bravo for 1. Chahal picked up his third after castling Aksdeep Nath, finishing with figures of 3 for 19 with Gujarat reeling at 69 for 6 after 12.
Bangalore's bowlers made short work of the innings then, despite Finch offering some resistance with 37 as Gujarat's batsmen were skittled out for 104 in 18.4 overs, with Jordan finishing with 4 for 11.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 248/3 in 20 overs (AB de Villiers 129*, Virat Kohli 109; Praveen Kumar 2-45) beat Gujarat Lions 104-all out in 18.4 overs (Aaron Finch 37; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-19, Chris Jordan 4-11) by 144 runs.
