The classy yet destructive duo of Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers has become synonyms to the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). Since AB joined RCB in 2011, he along with Virat has stitched many memorable partnerships on the field and the two together have given a lot of reasons to the fans to ship their bromance.
One of the greatest, if not the greatest, partnerships in T20 cricket was stitched by Virat and AB during the 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League on May 14 while batting against Gujarat Lions. The two batting maestros created history as they both smashed the century while collecting a 229-run stand.
With IPL 2016 heading towards its business days, it was an important game for RCB as they locked horns against table-toppers Gujarat Lions at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Put to bat first, RCB didn’t get off to a good start as Chris Gayle marched back to the pavilion after scoring just 6 runs off 13 balls. After this, though Virat and AB stitched a partnership, they were slow in their approach as with just nine overs to go, the Bangalore outfit was reeling at a score of 81.
However, what followed after 11 overs was a complete carnage as the explosive duo of Virat and AB gave nightmares to the Gujarat Lions. The assault began with AB hammering the bowlers to all corners of the park and reaching his half-century in 26 balls. The batsman didn’t stop here as he continued attacking the bowlers and by at end of the 15th over, RCB found themselves at a comfortable position of 136/1.
AB lived up to his name of Mr. 360 as he amassed 129 runs off 52 balls. All this while Virat stood calmly at one end and played the role of an anchor. With just three overs left Virat was at the score of 52 off 41 and nobody even in the wildest dream would have thought of him breaching the 100-run mark. However, in the last three overs, the skipper showed his class and completed his century after facing just 12 more balls.
Thus, after Virat had faced 55 balls, he was proudly standing with a score of 109. Virat and AB together stitched a 229-run stand with the duo collecting as many as 112 runs in the last five overs. The exploits by the iconic duo propelled the home team towards a massive total of 248 runs.
Batting in the second innings, Gujarat Lions could never keep themselves alive in the chase and thus lost all their ten wickets after scoring 104 runs. The same resulted in RCB registering a massive win by 248 runs.
