THE NUMBERS GAME – RCB v/s GL

When AB de Villiers or Virat Kohli brings the entire force of their batting might to bear on an opposition, the result is a particularly brutal form of carnage. When both do so in the same innings, the devastation is nuclear. They are like the Messi and Ronaldo of Cricket playing in the same team. Such was the case on Saturday afternoon at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, that the two batsmen made near-perfect centuries to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to 248 and set up a 144-run victory – a record margin in the IPL -over the shell-shocked Gujarat Lions. De Villiers’ unbeaten 52-ball 129 and Kohli’s 55-ball 109 decimated an increasingly feckless and indisciplined bowling attack.

Here are some stats of brilliance that happened in today ‘s Match.

1  Number of previous instances of two batsmen scoring centuries in the same T20 innings, in 5702 T20s. Kevin O’Brien (119) and Hamish Marshall (102) scored centuries for Gloceustire against Middlesex in 2011, before AB de Villiers (129*) and Virat Kohli (109) for Royal Challengers Bangalore in this match.

229 Runs added by de Villiers and Kohli for the second wicket, which is the highest partnership in the history of T20 cricket. Incidentally, the previous best was also by these two: 215* against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede in IPL 2015. They are the only pair to have shared two double-century stands in T20 cricket.

3 Centuries scored by Kohli in this IPL – joint-most by a batsman in a T20 tournament. Micheal Klinger had scored three centuries in the span of four innings’ in the Natwest T20 Blast in 2015.

112  Runs accumulated by RCB in the last five overs of the innings – the most by a team in T20s. Previously, no team had scored more than 100 runs in the final five overs (where ball-by-ball information is available). The previous highest in the IPL was 88, also by RCB, against Mumbai, when de Villiers and Kohli shared that other double-century partnership in 2015.

2  Number of overs that yielded 30 runs in RCB’s innings – the 18th and 19th overs, bowled by Dwayne Bravo and Shivil Kaushik respectively. This is the first such instance in all T20s.

1  Number of higher totals in IPL than the 248 by RCB in this match. The highest is 263 for 5 also by RCB, against Pune Warriors in IPL 2013, when Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 175.

20 Sixes hit by RCB – joint second-most in an innings in T20s. Fourteen of the 20 sixes were hit in the last five overs.

4 Century stands between Kohli and de Villiers in this IPL – the most by a pair in a single IPL season. Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir in 2008, and Gayle and Kohli in 2012 had shared three such stands. Overall, this is the sixth century stand between Kohli and de Villiers, one lesser than the overall T20 record of seven between Kohli and Gayle.

4 Centuries scored against Gujarat Lions this season, which is already the most against a team in a season. No other team conceded more than two centuries in an IPL season previously.

144 Margin of victory for RCB in this match – the largest victory margin in the IPL. The previous record was 140 runs by Kolkata Knight Riders in the first match of IPL 2008, against RCB, also in Bangalore.

12.00  Chris Jordan’s economy in his first three IPL matches this season – 132 runs in 11 overs with just one wicket. In this match, he took four wickets conceding just 11 runs in three overs, his best bowling figures in T20 cricket. Both his four-wicket hauls in T20s have come in 2016.

0  Number of times RCB got their opposition all out in this IPL, before this match. In the last IPL, they had done it three times. This was also the first time in 11 matches this season that a team scored less than 150 against RCB.