Ahmedabad: Skipper Virat Kohli blasted his second successive fifty and pacer Mitchell Starc snapped three wickets as Royal Challengers Bangalore notched up a comprehensive nine-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their IPL encounter here on Friday.
Bangalore didn't put a foot wrong as they first dished out a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Rajasthan to 130 for nine and then returned to overhaul the target with 23 balls to spare.
Chasing 130, Bangalore rode on the unbeaten 98-run partnership between Kohli and AB de villiers (47) for the second wicket to snap their three-match losing streak and hand over Rajasthan their second successive loss.
Earlier, Starc scalped three wickets, Yuzvendra Chahal and Harshal Patel took two wickets each while left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdulla snapped one at the Sardar Patel Stadium after skipper Kohli elected to field.
Chris Gayle (20) and Kohli gave Bangalore a good start with the West Indies batsman blasting three fours and a six.
But Shane Watson dismissed Gayle with a slower bouncer which caught him offguard as he top-edged it to wicketkeeper Sanju Samson.
AB de villiers then joined Kohli and the South African skipper straight away blasted James Faulkner for a couple of boundaries. Kohli too picked up a six off Pravin Tambe to keep the scoreboard ticking.
de villiers cracked two more fours in Tambe's second over. The duo started toying with the bowlers as they picked up quick singles and twos and also found regular boundaries to frustrated Rajasthan.
In the 14th over, Kohli brought up the 100 with a straight drive six off the first ball and then reached his individual fifty with a single.
de villiers then blasted a four off Watson and Kohli plundered another six off Tambe in the next to inch closer to the target.
Finally, it was de villiers who hit flicked Deepak Hooda to the midwicket boundary for a four to seal the game in Bangalore's favour.
