Agencies
Kolkata
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers combined once again to propel the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a comfortable nine-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League match at Eden Garden in Kolkata on Monday.
Just a few days after the pair had both scored centuries in compiling a record 229-run stand the duo combined once again as they constructed a destructive, unbroken 115-run second-wicket stand off just 69 balls as Bangalore, chasing Kolkata’s 183-5, reached 186-1 with eight balls of their innings remaining.
Kohli blasted his way to 75 not out off 51 deliveries with five fours and three sixes while De Villiers was no less impressive in scoring 59 not out off 31 balls with five fours and three sixes.
Kohli’s fine run of form means that he has now scored the most runs in a single IPL season taking his tally to 752 runs to beat the previous record of 733, jointly held by Chris Gayle and Michael Hussey.
The win lifted kept Bangalore’s playoff hopes alive as they moved to 12 points and fifth place, just two points behind Kolkata in second place.
Bangalore made a fine start to their run chase as Chris Gayle shrugged off his recent poor form to blast his way to 49 off 31 deliveries with five fours and four sixes as he and Virat Kohli put on 71 runs for the first wicket off 7.3 overs.
Gayle’s innings was finally ended when he was trapped leg-before by offspinner Sunil Narine.
Kohli, who was dropped with his score on 31, brought up his fifth fifty of this year’s tournament, to go with three centuries, off 37 balls with three fours and two sixes.
De Villiers raced to his half-century off a mere 29 balls with three fours and three sixes as the pair impressed not only with their destructive hitting but also their impressive running between the wickets.
Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey had earlier both struck fifties to help Kolkata to what had looked like a challenging total.
Gambhir brought up his 31st IPL fifty off 32 balls with seven fours before being run out in the 11th over for 51 off 34 deliveries.
Pandey raised his half-century off 34 balls with five fours and two sixes but he departed one ball later when he hoisted a delivery from left-arm seamer Sreenath Aravind to De Villiers at long-on to be dismissed for 50.
Kolkata, after being asked to bat, shrugged off the early loss of Robin Uthappa (2) as Gambhir and Pandey plundered 76 runs for the second wicket off 8.1 overs.
But the entertaining partnership ended in disappointing fashion when Gambhir played a delivery from left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla straight to Shane Watson at point. A mix-up between the batsmen saw Gambhir left stranded as Watson fired in a throw to the non-striker’s end with Gambhir being comfortably run out.
Pandey departed in the 14th over before Kolkata slipped to 118-4 when Yusaf Pathan (6) was stumped off the bowling of legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal.
Wickets continued to fall and Aravind struck again when he had Surayakumar Yadav (5) caught at long-off as Kolkata staggered to 125-5.
But Andre Russell and Shakib Al Hasan provided the innings with some late impetus as they smashed 58 runs off just 4.4 overs during their unbeaten sixth-wicket.
Russell was his usual aggressive self as he thumped 39 not out off a mere 19 balls with two fours and three sixes while Shakib was 18 not out off 11 deliveries.
Aravind ended with 2-41.
