IPL 9: Virat on the three-top

Bangalore The Karnataka government need not spend any money on cloudseeding this year For the Royal Challengers Bangalore duo of AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli have gone and done just thatAB de Villiers punches the air after reaching his 100 in Bangalore and Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli celebrates his ton against Gujarat Lions at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday PicsPTIIt rained fours and sixes 16 and 20 in respective numbers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday The second wicket pair broke record after record as they batted a hapless Gujarat Lions out of the matchCenturies by either batsman the first time its happened in a IPL innings a 229run stand the highest ever in IPL history all meant RCB after being put into bat notched up 248 Needing to score 1245 an over the Gujarat innings which saw Ravindra Jadeja batting at No 3 in place of the absent Suresh Raina never got going Poorly placed at 545 at the end of the 10th over they folded up for 104 to hand RCB a 144run victory which is the highest ever margin in the IPLHaving turned up in green in support of the environment things seemed to be normal when they lost Chris Gayle to a 13ball six after Praveen Kumar had begun with a maiden At 191 in four overs another modest total loomed De Villiers 129 not out 52b 10x4 12x6 SR 248 had other plans though as he started to take apart each and every bowler that standin skipper Brendon McCullum threw into the ring Mystery spinner Shivil Kaushik kept him quiet for his first few deliveries after which De Villiers responded the way only he can Staying on the backfoot he produced tremendous bat speed to send the white ball roaring over the cover fence and into the packed stands He was to play many such strokes many of them unbelievable efforts Bad ball good ball very good ball nothing matteredAnd when Kohli 109 55b 5x4 8x6 SR 198 who played his first really confident shot in the 10th over too got into the act there was no looking back it was all about looking up to see where the next ball disappeared As many as 112 runs came off the final five overs of the innings 23 runs off Kumarrsquos over and 30 each off Kaushik and Dwayne Bravo sending the crowd into rapturesOnly Jadeja who with a turning first ball almost got De Villiers stumped was given some respect but such was the evening that he was still slammed for one four and three sixes Even the RCB bowlers couldnrsquot lose this one not even with Kohli Gayle and Sachin Baby rolling their arms over The home team thus lived to fight another day while leaving the Lions with a mauling they will remember for some time to come144 runsThe biggest victory margin in the IPL229Number of runs put on by AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli the highest in T20 historyThreeVirat Kohli becomes the first batsman to score three IPL centuries in one seasonBrief scoresRCB 2483 in 20 overs De Villiers 129 V Kohli 109 P Kumar 245 beat Gujarat Lions 104 all out in 184 overs A Finch 37C Jordan 411 Y Chahal 319 S Baby 24 by 144 runs