Season-wise highest team totals in the IPL

#8 Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) 235/1 vs Mumbai Indians(MI), Mumbai, 10th May 2015

ABD was in a relentless mood

Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers' camaraderie and mutual admiration, both on the field and off it are well known. It is therefore surprising that RCB has not lifted the trophy even once, throughout the history of the tournament. The absence of accolades does not necessarily indicate the team’s lack of entertainment quotient. On the contrary, RCB batsmen are capable of pulling off almost anything on a cricket field.

In the match, de Villiers in the company of Kohli dished out a beating on the MI bowlers. Gayle’s early departure opened the gates for the duo to unleash an assault on the hapless MI bowling. Current Indian team superstars Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya were taken for 52 and 51 in 4 overs and 3 overs respectively. de Villiers made a gigantic 133* off 59 balls, at a mind-boggling strike rate of 225. Kohli played his role to perfection, scoring 82 off 50 balls.

For MI, the Caribbean powerhouse Keiron Pollard (49) and stroke maker Lendl Simmons (68) paved the way for a potential mammoth run chase. The rest of the batsmen just couldn’t keep up with the required run rate, and Mumbai finished on 196/7, falling short by 39 runs.

The Superman from SA was adjudged the man of the match.

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#9 Royal Challengers Bangalore(RCB) 248/3 vs Gujarat Lions(GL), Bengaluru, 14th May 2016

Kohli was in roaring form in IPL 2016

IPL 2016 will forever be remembered as Kohli’s IPL. The Indian skipper compiled an astounding 973 runs in 16 games, scoring 4 centuries and 7 half centuries in the process. Add the SA Superman and the Bengaluru stadium to the Kohli saga, and you have a blockbuster of a match.

Chris Gayle’s early departure once again allowed the most prolific duo of the IPL to take center stage. An intriguing aspect of their attack was the controlled and planned aggression on display.

The experienced Praveen Kumar was taken for 23 off his penultimate over.

The duo was remorseless in their treatment of the experienced and newcomer bowlers alike. While the veteran Bravo conceded 30 runs in the 18th over, Kohli smashed the young Shivil Kaushik for 5 consecutive sixes on the first 5 deliveries of the 19th over. Kohli departed for a well made 109(55) while ABD collected himself 129 off just 52 balls.

This was also the second instance of 2 batsmen scoring a century in the same innings.

Gujarat Lions’ batting just piled on the misery of a hectic day in the office. None of the batsmen showed any signs of a fight back in a dispirited batting display. 104 is all that they could manage, unable to bat out the full 20 overs.

AB de Villiers was once again adjudged the man of the match for his heroics.