Press Trust of India
Mumbai, May 10: Powered by a swashbuckling century AB de Villiers (133 n o, 59, 19×4, 4×6) and a classy half century from skipper Virat Kohli (82 n o, 50b, 6×4, 4×6), Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) trounced Mumbai Indians (MI) by 39 runs at the Wankhede Stadium here Sunday.
De Villiers, who came in at the fall of opener Chris Gayle (13), simply tore apart the MI bowling hammering the bowlers around the park as RCB rattled up 235 for the loss of one wicket.
De Villiers and Kohli posted IPL’s record partnership for any wicket of 215 in 102 balls, which bettered the previous best of 206 between Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh for Kings XI Punjab against RCB in 2011 at Dharamsala.
Chasing the huge score MI made a brave effort before finally ending up with 196 for seven. Opener Lendl Simmons (68 n o, 53, 5×4, 3×6) remained unbeaten and featured in a breezy stand of 70 in 37 balls for the third wicket with Kieron Pollard (49, 24b, 6×4, 2×6), but the target was too stiff to scale. Yuzvendra Chahal (2/51) and Harshal Patel (2/36) grabbed a couple of wickets for the visitors.
The day belonged in large measure to de Villiers, who struck his second ton in IPL history and was complemented in superb fashion by Kohli, who was lucky to be let off by Harbhajan Singh when on 6.
MI had in fact looked to have had things under control when they restricted RCB to 39 for one at the end of the power-play overs before things fell apart as De Villiers, in particular, went hammer and tongs first at the spin duo of Harbhajan Singh and Jagadeesha Suchith.
De Villiers raced to his century in 47 balls by striking successive sixes off Bumrah in the 17th over. Hardik Pandya was carted around for 19 runs in the 18th and after Lasith Malinga was hit for 14 in the penultimate over, Pandya was strangely asked to bowl the last in which 17 runs came. The last four overs yielded a staggering 75 runs.
Brief scores
RCB 235 for one (Ab de Villiers 133 n o, Virat Kohli 82 n o) beat MI 196 for seven (Lendl Simmons 68 n o, Kieron Pollard 49; Harshal Patel 2/36) by 39 runs.
