Gujarat Lions made it four wins from five games in IPL 2016 by defeating the Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets in Rajkot.
Batting first the Royal Challengers made a competitive score of 180 thanks in the main to Virat Kohli as he made his maiden T20 century of 63 balls. Lokesh Rahul also made an unbeaten fifty for his team in an unbeaten 121 partnership between himself and Kohli.
The Lions got their chase off to a blistering start and chased the target down with three balls remaining thanks to good innings from Brendon McCullum who made 42(24) and Dinesh Karthik who was made an unbeaten 50 of 39 balls which saw their side home.
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and batted first
The toss was won by Bangalore captain Kohli who chose to bat first as his side looked to get their third win in this year's competition.
Kohli's decision looked a good one as his side got off to a good start getting to 50-1 after six overs of the power play. The man to fall for the Royal Challengers was Shane Watson for six of six balls of the bowling of Dhawal Kulkarni.
The wicket of Watson brought Ab de Villers to the crease and himself and Kohli put on a fifty partnership for the second wicket before De Villers was out for 20 of 16 balls. Pravin Tambe was the man to get the crucial wicket for his team as he deceived De Villiers into making a false shot which left the score on 59-2.
Kohli's brilliant maiden T20 hundred got his team up to 180
Rahul came in at number four and showed what he could do as he and Kohli put on 121 for the third wicket and it remained unbeaten right through to the end of the innings. Rahul finished 51 not out of 35 balls to make his maiden IPL fifty.
Kohli batted through the full innings finishing 100 not out of 63 balls to see his side make 180-2 from their 20 overs.
McCullum and Smith got their side off to a fast start in the run-chase
Dwayne Smith and McCullum got the Lions run chase off to a strong start getting the score to 72-1 after six overs. Smith was out finally for 32 of 21 balls of the bowling of Kane Richardson in the final over of the power play.
McCullum continued on his merry way but was finally out for a brisk 42 of 24 balls. Tabraiz Shamzi was the man to get the big wicket to end what was a dangerous cameo from the New Zealander to leave the score on 87-2 in the ninth over.
Lions captain Suresh Raina and Karthik came together at the fall of the second wicket and the pair put on 43 before Raina was out for 28 of 24 balls. Yuzvendra Chahal got the important breakthrough for his team to leave the score on 140-3.
Karthik's unbeaten half-century sees his side home by six wickets
The Lions lost one more wicket on their way to chasing down the total as Ravindra Jadeja was out in the final over of the innings for 12 of 10 balls of the bowling of Watson.
The wicket didn't matter much as Karthik saw his team home with an unbeaten 50 not out as the Lions won the game with three balls remaining in the innings.