While Du Plessis hit an unbeaten 79 off 46 balls, Kohli stole the show with his 44-ball 61-run knock, as the duo shared 96 runs for the first wicket after being put in. LSG got off to a bad start, losing Kyle Mayers to Mohammed Siraj in the third delivery of the first over.
Deepak Hooda got a faint edge to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps off Wayne Parnell’s bowling in the fourth over, giving RCB their second victory. To compound matters for LSG, Parnell struck again a ball later when Krunal Pandya edged one to Karthik, reducing the visitors to 23 for three in four overs.
Following that, Stoinis demonstrated his batting prowess by taking Harshal Patel and Karn Sharma to the cleaners to keep LSG in the hunt. Stoinis continued his onslaught, slamming Shahbaz Ahmed for two maximums to take LSG to 91 for three at the halfway point, while also reaching his fifty in 26 balls.
Stoinis then smashed Karn Sharma over the extra cover boundary, but the bowler had the last laugh when the Australian miscued a shot and was caught at deep point by Ahmed.
KL Rahul, the LSG captain, struggled to 18 off 20 balls before being caught by Kohli off Siraj in the 12th over. Pooran made good use of his long handle, smashing seven sixes and four boundaries to keep LSG in the hunt. Pooran scored his fifty off just 15 balls in a brilliant innings.
With his big-hitting prowess, Pooran single-handedly changed the complexion of the match, bringing LSG within a whisker of a spectacular win. Earlier, after a slow start, Kohli smashed Avesh Khan for six and four in the second over to pick up the pace.
Kohli, full of confidence, then pushed Krunal Pandya over the fence in the next over. Kohli was at his best, hitting a boundary over Mark Wood’s head and then pulling the bowler over deep midwicket for a maximum.
Kohli reached 50 with a single off Ravi Bishnoi in the ninth over. On the other hand, RCB captain Faf du Plessis played second fiddle and took his time. While Kohli went hammer and tongs, the South African played with restraint, hitting bad deliveries to the fence.
Kohli was finally removed from the game in the 12th over, when he dragged Amit Mishra to Marcus Stoinis at square leg. The 18th over from Jaydev Unadkat yielded 23 runs for RCB, with Du Plessis hitting sixes and fours.
Maxwell matched Avesh stroke for stroke, hitting back-to-back maximums to reach fifty off just 24 balls. The onslaught was so intense that the duo reached their century partnership in just 44 deliveries.
Maxwell was removed in the penultimate delivery of the inning, caught by Wood as the batter attempted a heave.
