Pune: Captain Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers smashed brisk half-centuries to guide Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a well-deserved 13-run win over Rising Pune Supergiants in Friday's IPL IX tie match, here.
Sent into bat, RCB rode De Villiers's 83 off 46 balls with the help of six boundaries and four sixes and Kohli's 80 off 63 deliveries, during which he struck seven fours and two hits over the fence, to post a daunting 185 for three.
Later, RCB bowlers rose to the occasion and managed to restrict the Supergiants to 172 for eight.
The Supergiants, in reply, got off to a poor start as they slumped to 18 for two by the end of the third over. Ajinkya Rahane (60 off 46 balls), though, started off the chase in great fashion, hitting Stuart Binny for two classical boundaries in the first over.
But thereafter, their chase went haywire as Faf du Plessis (2) departed in the next over when he was caught by Harshal Patel off Kane Richardson (3/13) at mid-off. That was followed by Kevin Pietersen going off the field after pulling his calf-muscle in the next over.
To make matters worse for the Supergiants, Steven Smith was run out in the third over by a direct hit from Kohli. Then Rahane and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41) shared 91 runs off 73 balls for the third wicket to keep their team afloat.
Rahane was the initiator in the partnership while Dhoni focused on rotating the strike in order to build a partnership. Rahane scored his runs with the help of eight boundaries before the asking rate took a toll on him.
He fell in the 15th over, stumped by Lokesh Rahul off IPL debutant Tabraiz Shamsi (1/36) while going for an extravagant shot. Shamsi, the left-arm chinaman from South Africa, came in place of the injured Samuel Badree.
An over later, Dhoni also departed in pursuit of a big shot, caught at long-off by De Villiers off Harshal Patel. But there was more drama in store as Thissara Perera (34 off 13 balls) and Rajat Bhatia (21 off 11) shared quickfire 44 runs off just 14 balls to raise the hopes of their side.
In fact, the turnaround came in the 18th over when Patel conceded whopping 25 runs. Perera struck the hapless bowler for two boundaries and as many sixes to turn things around for Pune.
But just when it seemed the match was slipping away from RCB's hand, Shane Watson came to his side's rescue claiming two wickets in the next over to get rid of the dangerous Perera and Ravichandran Ashwin.
With the Supergiants needing 21 runs off the final over, Richardson dismissed Bhatia and Murugan Ashwin off consecutive balls to strike the final nail in the hosts' coffin.
Earlier, Perera (3/34) was the pick of the bowlers for the Supergiants, picking up all the three RCB wickets to fall.
RCB had a relatively quiet start, stitching 27 runs off 22 balls for the opening wicket before Rahul (7) became the first victim. Rahul was caught at third man by Ishant Sharma off Perera's bowling as he went for an ugly hoick only to get a thick outside edge.
But the dismissal brought together two most destructive batsmen of modern-day cricket in Kohli and De Villiers and as expected, the duo played fearless cricket and displayed a vast array of shots to put together 155 runs off just 95 balls for the second wicket.
As usual De Villiers was at his attacking best from the word 'go' while Kohli played the second fiddle. De Villiers and Kohli shared their fourth half-century stand this season with a two off Bhatia in 9.5 overs.
De Villiers came out with a plan and targeted young Murugan Ashwin by welcoming the spinner with a six and then followed it up with another hit over the fence in the final ball of the 11th over.
