The maiden T20 century by Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli was not sufficient to deny Gujarat Lions their deserved glory in the form of a six-wicket victory. The Bengaluru side recovered from two early jolts, thanks mainly to a quickfire century stand between Kohli and KL Rahul, to post a seemingly daunting total of 180 for 2, the highest in three matches played at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. However, the Lions got back to doing what they do best - chasing. The debutants have won all their previous matches while chasing and Sunday was no different. Brendon McCullum extracted 25 runs in the sixth over by Kane Richardson as the Lions finished their powerplay with 62 runs, losing the other opener Dwayne Smith (32 runs, 21balls) who was playing his first match of IPL-9. The 47 runs they added together would set the tone for another successful run chase.
However, it was the crucial 53-run third wicket stand between skipper Suresh Raina (28) and Dinesh Karthik that took them to the cusp of victory. Finally finding form, Karthik smashed an unbeaten 50 to ensure the Lions crossed the finish line with three balls remaining to register their fourth victory in five matches.
Kohli's key man Tabraiz Shamsi, the chinaman bowler from South Africa, did pose a few problems for the hosts, as he picked up the wicket of the dangerous McCullum, but the lack of support from the other end resulted in RCB's downfall. Richardson was the biggest culprit for RCB, leaking runs at an economy rate of nearly 14. Iqbal Abdulla, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shane Watson all proved costly.
Earlier, the Lions showed they had done their homework in getting rid of two of Royal Challengers' dangerous batsmen -Shane Watson and AB de Villiers - cheaply, but ran into a sublime Kohli who played a captain's knock by smashing an unbeaten 100, his first in T20s.
Having lost both Watson and De Villiers with the scoreboard reading just 59, Kohli, along with Rahul, added 121 runs in just 74 balls. Both batsmen took their time to settle down but once they did, they tore into the Lions attack, amassing 52 runs from the 14th to the 17th over.
Kohli saved his best for the end as he smashed Dwayne Bravo for a six and two fours in the final over which took him to his historic three-figure mark.
