Top News

On this day in 2016, the globe stopped everything to watch Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers, two exceptional players, bat together for Royal Challengers Bengaluru on television.

The lethal pair created the greatest partnership for the second wicket in men’s T20 cricket history on this day in 2016. During the 2016 Indian Premier League, the then-RCB captain and his team’s greatest match-winner and South African maverick put on an incredible display that crushed the now-defunct Gujarat Lions.

Following the early dismissal of their opener Chris Gayle for six, the RCB went on a batting binge, with Kohli and De Villiers combining for an incredible 229-run partnership off only 96 deliveries. The pair put the Lions on a leather chase and lit up M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

In 2016, when he was at his peak in the IPL, Kohli scored a spectacular 109 off 55 balls with five fours and eight sixes. Only the legendary De Villiers could have equaled and even exceeded the former RCB captain’s incredible blitz. The Proteas right-hander dominated the game by hitting an undefeated 129 off 52 deliveries, which included 10 fours and 12 sixes.

Notably, after building an undefeated partnership of 215 in a 2015 IPL match against the Mumbai Indians, the incredible Kohli-De Villiers pair shattered their own record for the best second-wicket partnership in the IPL. In the Indian Premier League, their 229-run stand against the Lions continues to be the biggest partnership for any wicket.

On a day when the Lions had no answers to the vicious Kohli-De Villiers attack, Praveen Kumar’s two wickets were their lone bright point.

With seasoned leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (3/19) and pacer Chris Jordan (4/11) tearing up the field in the second half, the Lions fell to a humbling 104 all out after RCB amassed an unbeatable 248/3 in their 20 overs.