IPL 2019: Kohli, De Villiers guide RCB to eight-wicket win over KXIP

Sensational fifties from Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers overshadowed Chris Gayles unbeaten 99 as Royal Challengers finally snapped a sixmatch losing streak this IPL season with a eightwicket win over Kings XI Punjab here SaturdayKohli 67 in company of AB de Villiers 59 not out scripted a superb runchase sharing a 85run stand to lay the foundation The India skipper blasted eight boundaries while de Villiers clobbered two sixes and five hits across the rope in his 38ball inningsInvited to bat dashing West Indies opener Chris Gayle 99 carried his bat through with an unbeaten 99 studded with five sixes and as many as 10 hits to the fence to singlehandedly anchor Punjab to 173 for fourKohli and de Villiers then did bulk of the scoring and once the skipper was dismissed in the 16th over Marcus Stoinis 28 off 16 played a crucial cameo to take the team through with four balls to spare With this victory RCB also avoided the ignominy of most successive losses for a team at the start of an IPL seasonChasing 174 to win Parthiv Patel and Kohli gave RCB a flying start amassing 43 off 23 balls but the lefthanded opener was caught by Mayank Agarwal off R Ashwin in the 4th overde Villiers and Kohli then took the bowlers to the cleaners picking up boundaries at will as RCB brought up the 100 in the 12th overKohli completed his second fifty of this IPL season in 37 balls but runs dried up a bit in the middle with M Ashwin 240 and Andrew Tye 440 bowling a tight over eachMohammad Shami then gave Punjab a glimmer of hope when over he dismissed Kohli who pulled one straight to M Ashwin as RCB slipped to 128 for twoBut Marcus Stoinis and de Villiers ensured there were no hiccups sharing 46 runs as RCB romped home comfortably in the endEarlier Gayle stitched a 66run opening stand off 38 balls with KL Rahul 18 and kept the scoreboard ticking even though he lost partners on the other endRCB could have dismissed Gayle in the first over itself when he was hit on the leg by Umesh Yadav but Virat Kohli didnt go for a DRS and the West Indian escapedGayle made RCB pay for the mistake as he hit a four and six off Umeshs next over before Rahul joined the party and smashed a couple of fours off the India pacer in his third overIn the sixth over Gayle exploded as he welcomed Mohammad Siraj with a four at long off and followed it up with a six over longon and another boundary across coverHe then pulled another one over square leg before sending the ball across the fine leg as KXIP amassed 24 runs to end the powerplay at 60 for no lossChahal was then introduced into the attack and Rahul lifted him over longon for a maximum but the spinner had him stumped in the next delivery to produce a crucial breakthroughMayank Agarwal then joined Gayle who completed his fifty in 28 ballsAgarwal smashed Chahal over extra cover for a six but the spinner cleaned him up in the next delivery as Punjab slumped to 86 for twoSarfaraz Khan 15 and Gayle then took Punjab across the 100mark before the former was caught behind off Sirajs delivery Sam Curran 1 too couldnt stay long and was removed by Moeen Ali as Punjab slipped to 114 for four in 14th overMandeep Singh 18 and Gayle then provided the late charge scoring 60 off 37 balls Gayle who has six tons to his name needed 10 runs in the last over to complete another century but he fall short by just one run despite hitting the last ball for another fourCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates