Royal Challengers Bangalore takes on the Gujarat Lions in the early evening Sunday fixture. Gujarat Lions started off with three wins but lost their last match against the Sunrisers by 10 wickets. Whereas RCB became the only team to defend their total twice against RPS and by winning the game by 13 runs.
Virat Kohli won the toss for the first time in this IPL and decided to bat first due to the extreme heat at Rajkot. Shane Watson opened the batting with Virat Kohli and failed to impress as he fell for just 6 in the second over itself. AB continued to come in a number three and put up another 50 run partnership with Virat. They looked set to carry on and make a big one, but AB fell while trying to hit Tambe over the infield but was caught by Raina for 20 off 15 deliveries.
Kohli scores his first T20 century
N ext in was KL Rahul who was brought in as a backup for Mandeep Singh as he split his webbing just before the match began. Rahul, who has had a dismal IPL season so far unable to make the most of his starts, looked a different batsman today. He did start off slow, unable to middle the ball but as the innings went by, he set himself well and ably partnered Kohli.
By the end of the 13 over RCB had reached the 100 for the innings and in the next over the two brought up their 50 run partnership. Kohli started off slowly but picked up pace as the innings went on, and brought his first ever T20 100 off just 63 deliveries. KL Rahul, on the other hand, played a good hand as well scoring 51 off 35 deliveries. They ended with a 121 run partnership. RCB ended with a score of 180 from the 20 overs thanks to the 121 run partnership between Kohli and Rahul.
Smith and McCullum give a rollicking start
The second innings started with a glory of excitement. The openers were the Caribbean player Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum who started off with a blazing start. It seemed, during Gujarat Lions' only loss, they hadn't paced their innings well. Here they were perfect. Finch did not bat at all tonight, despite losing Finch of their major run-scorers early due to injury, McCullum, and Dwayne Smith who replaced Dale Steyn, took Lions to the best score in the Powerplay this season scoring 72 runs in six overs, they had the perfect base to exploit a big outfield.
Raina and Karthik string together a 50 run stand to take GL home
Raina and Dinesh Karthik strung a half-century stand simply by running twos. The pressure of the chase is no longer as strong as it once was. Karthik scored 50 of 39 deliveries, to take the Lions home with three balls to spare. So Virat Kohli's maiden T20 century ended up in a losing cause.
IPL 2016 Points Table and Standings
| Pos | Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Net RR |
| 1 | Gujarat Lions | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +0.034 |
| 2 | Kolkata Knight Riders | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +1.075 |
| 3 | Delhi Daredevils | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | +0.320 |
| 4 | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | +0.276 |
| 5 | Royal Challenger Bangalore | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +0.230 |
| 6 | Mumbai Indians | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | -0.528 |
| 7 | Rising Pune Supergiants | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +0.084 |
| 8 | Kings XI Punjab | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | -1.155 |
IPL 2016 Schedule
| Date | Time (BST/IST) | Match | Venue |
| April 25 | 8 p.m. | Kings XI Punjab vs. Mumbai Indian | Mohali |
| April 26 | 8 p.m. | Sunrisers Hyderabad vs. Rising Pune Supergiants | Hyderabad |
| April 27 | 8 p.m. | Delhi Daredevils vs. Gujarat Lions | Delhi |
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
