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AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli made for a lethal batting partnership for Royal Challengers Bangalore and they showed their capability with flawless centuries in a massive 144-run victory over the now-defunct Gujarat Lions in 2016.
It remains the second highest margin of victory in terms of runs in the premier domestic franchise-based T20 competition. RCB powered to 248/3 and then decimated Gujarat to 104 in 18.4 overs.
Kohli and de Villiers produced a 229-run partnership for the second wicket, which remains the highest partnership in the history of the glamorous tournament.
At RCB's batting friendly home wicket of the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, RCB opted to bat first but lost their star opener Chris Gayle for six runs (13 balls) with the score at 19/1 in 3.5 overs.
In came South African de Villiers and joined Kohli to put together a memorable partnership that would become the benchmark for batters for the years to come.
Kohli and de Villiers joined hands when the match was only 23 balls old and batted together up until the penultimate ball of the innings when the Indian star was caught by Dwayne off Praveen Kumar.
In between, Kohli tonked 109, one of his record eight centuries in IPL, off 55 balls with the help of five boundaries and eight sixes. De Villiers stayed unbeaten on 129 off 52 balls, hitting 10 boundaries and 12 sixes.
It was the second time that Kohli and de Villiers put on a 200-plus run stand in the IPL and bettered their earlier record of an unbeaten 215-run partnership against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in 2015, also a second wicket alliance.
In that match, Kohli remained not out on 82 while ABD remained unbeaten on 133 to help RCB win by 39 runs.
ABD was declared the man of the match for his unbeaten knock.
"A lot of things played a role today, I walked out there feeling scare-less, no fear of losing my wicket. Virat and I made good decisions while batting and assessed things very well and we accelerated very well at the end," he said after the match.
"I hate facing dot balls in T20s and I'm disappointed with the ones today (nine against Jadeja). Jaddu bowled very well today. It's about playing the right shots at the right time, it wasn't just about the boundaries. (Laughs) I'm really angry about facing those dot balls today."
Kohli was equally ecstatic, saying: "I have all the right to smile today, everything went as per plans despite losing the toss. It can be pretty disheartening after losing 9 out of 11 tosses.
"It feels good that the guys are ready for it, our equation is pretty clear as it's like the playoffs from here. We don't want to push or pressurise ourselves too much, we know we are batting with intent and with good strike rates.
"It's important to not get ahead of ourselves, if you try extra you might end up scoring 150 instead of 180. We don't think about the game too much, we just react instinctively, and play smart cricket.
"I didn't want to speak about how well we had played and we gave the guys a realistic target of 170 to defend for the NRR. The guys have responded very well at the business and of the tournament.
"We want to take the responsibility and take the pressure. Everyday is a new opportunity for some youngsters to perform and win the game for RCB, that's the most exciting thing going ahead."
