IPL 9: Kohli's unbeaten ton powers RCB to emphatic win over Pune

Bengaluru Captain Virat Kohli smashed hissecond century of the season in a magnificent batting displayto lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thrillingsevenwicket win over Rising Pune Supergiants in an IPL matchhere todayKohli struck an unbeaten 108 off just 58 balls with thehelp of eight fours and seven sixes in a display of battingpyrotechnics at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here as Bangalorechased down the challenging target of 192 with three balls tospare to notch up their third win in eight matchesThe RCB skipper entered into record books as he becamethe only batsman to score two tons in a single IPL seasonRoyal Challengers Bangalores Virat Kohli celebrates his century during the IPL 2016 match against Rising Pune Supergiants in Bengaluru on Saturday PicPTIHealso joined the likes of Brendon McCullum Shane Watson DavidWarner AB de Villiers Adam Gilchrist and Virender Sehwag tohit two IPL centuries overall The most number of IPL tons five though still belongs to Chris GayleKohlis ton also overshadowed an amazing late assault of13ball 36 that included five fours and two sixes by ShaneWatson which suddenly tilted the balance of the match infavour of Bangalore after it was poised evenly a couple ofovers after the halfway stageBangalore took 39 runs off two overs 20 from 14th overbowled by Thisara Perera and 19 from the 15th bowled by RajatBhatia Watson smashed a hapless Perera for five fours in ascintillating show of strokemaking He then hit Bhatia for twosixes as the bowler bled 19 runsKohli then took over as he smashed two sixes and a fouroff Adam Zampa in the 18th over and two sixes off RP Singh inthe 19th over to steal 18 runs from each of the two overs Hehit Ashok Dinda for a four to finish off the match asBangalore reached 195 for three in 193 oversThe match also witnessed Pune captain Mahendra SinghDhoni introducing offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin only in the17th over and he was not used after thatBangalore however made a sedate start in their runchase but soon found the boundaries with Kohli hitting twosixes off RP Singh in the fourth over to set the tempoBy the end of powerplay overs Bangalore were placed at adecent 46 for no loss with both Kohli and Lokesh Rahul 38going strong Runs keep on coming with Kohli and Rahul getting the boundaries and the home side reached 81 for no loss at the halfway markKohli who hit his first ton of the season againstGujarat Lions in Rajkot continued his aggressive intent as hehit Bhatia for two fours and then brought up his half centurywith a two in the 11th overJust as Bangalore looked like pressing the acceleratorthey suffered a jolt with two quick wickets in the form ofRahul and A B de Villiers in the 12 over as the home side werereduced toRahul fell to Zampa as he came down the track for a bigdrive but only to find the ball turned away and the edge wassafely taken by George Bailey at deep cover Rahul hit onefour and two sixes in his 35ball 38De Villiers disapppointed as he fell to Zampa fove ballslater for just one after facing three balls He miscued adrive and Thisara Perera took a catch just above his head justinside the boundaryThe match however turned on its head and in Bangaloresfavour as the home side milked 39 runs off two overs 20from 14th bowled by Perera and 19 from the 15th by BhatiaWatson smashed a hapless Perera for five fours in ascintilalting show of strokemaking He then hit Bhatia for twosixes as the bowler bled 19 runsThat brought down the asking rate to 10 an over andimmediately Watson was out LBW to Singh in the 16th overAshwin was introduced in the 17th over and he gave awayseven runs and after that he was not used as Kohli made thestadium on fire with a flurry of lusty blows to take the gameaway from PuneEarlier Ajinkya Rahane and Saurabh Tiwary smashed halfcenturies to power Pune to an imposing 191 for six after beingput into batWhile opener Rahane made 74 off 48 balls with the help ofeight boundaries and two sixes Tiwarys 52 came off 39 ballsduring which he struck nine boundariesYazuvendra Singh Chahal was the only bowler for Bangaloreto pick up the lone wicket as Usman Khawaja who was run outfor 16 runs off six balls with two boundaries and a sixPune had a poor start as Khawaja lost his wicket when thescore was 26 on the board in 22 oversThe dismissal however brought together Rahane andTiwary who played sensibly and took the bowling apart whenrequired as they hit some exquisite shots to put together 106runs for the second wicketAs usual Rahane played a composed innings while Tiwaryshowed his attacking intent from the word go as he hit ParveezRasool and Shane Watson for boundariesRahane came out with a plan and accumulated runs insingles and twos and getting an odd boundaries here andthere He and Tiwary brought up their century stand in the13th overEarly in his innings though Rahane had a narrow escapewhen on four as he almost gave a catch to the diving StuartBinny who reached to grab the ball which caressed his fingersThereafter it was Tiwary and Rahane show until theformer lost his wicket to Chahal when he was caught behind thestumps by K L RahulAfter breaking the century partnership of Tiwary andRahane RCB bounced back into the game by taking four wicketsfor 42 runs considerably restricting Punes run flowWatson was the main architect to bring RCB back by takingthree wickets that of captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni 9Rahane and George Bailey 0Thisara Perera 14 was caught by Watson off ChrisJordan who celebrated his first wicket for RCB Rajat Bhatia9 not out and R Ashwin 10 not out collected 16 runs offthe last over bowled of Jordan Ashwin tonked two huge sixes