Kohli, De Villiers Fire RCB to 205/3

Bengaluru, Apr 5 (PTI) Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers shared a delightful 108-run stand to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to 205 for three against Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League here on Friday.

Kohli (84 off 49) and AB de Villiers (63 off 32) smashed sensational half centuries after KKR opted to field on a good batting surface.

Kohli and de Villiers hammered the bowlers at will, recreating the magic they have woven many times in the past. During his sublime knock, Kohli also overtook Suresh Raina to becoming leading run-getter in IPL history besides completing 8000 runs in T20 cricket.

The RCB skipper hit some beautiful cover drives early on and his innings comprised nine fours and two sixes. De Villiers too was in his element, smashing five fours and four maximums.

Kohli was finally out in the 18th over off Kuldeep Yadav as he hit the ball straight into the bowler's hands. He was particularly severe on Prasidh Krishna, Lockie Fergusson and Nitesh Rana.

De Villiers played second fiddle to Kohli before cutting loose to produce some massive hits.

In the last over, Marcus Stoinis belted 18 runs off Prasidh with the help of two boundaries and a six, pushing the total past 200 mark.

Needing a good start desperately, Parthiv Patel and Kohli gave a good start for first time in the tournament, stitching 64 runs for the first wicket in 7.5 overs.

Patel was LBW to Nitesh Rana after scoring 25 off 24 balls with three boundaries to his credit.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)