Royal Challengers Bangalore

Right from the word go, Virat Kohli hit ground running after a long wait of 55 minutes for the game to start due to rain and unleashed a masterclass in carrying the bat through the innings in front of a hugely supportive home crowd through his unbeaten 101 off 61 balls.

After Virat Kohli slammed his second consecutive hundred of IPL 2023, and carried his bat through the innings to power Bangalore to a competitive 197/5, Gill shined with his scintillating strokeplay to hit five fours and eight sixes at a strike-rate of 200 to break countless hearts of crowd at the stadium by hunting down the total with five balls to spare.

Right from the word go, Talismanic batter Virat Kohli hit ground running after a long wait of 55 minutes for the game to start due to rain and unleashed a masterclass in front of a hugely supportive home crowd through his unbeaten 101 off 61 balls, also his seventh IPL hundred.

With Mumbai defeating bottom-ranked Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium by eight wickets, thanks to an unbeaten 47-ball century from Cameron Green and now at fourth place with 16 points, Bangalore have to beat table-toppers Gujarat to get into the playoffs.

The spat, which started as an exchange of verbals between Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq during the match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow escalated into a full-fledged altercation with Gambhir and his former Delhi Ranji teammate Virat Kohli coming face to face and needed to be pulled away by LSG skipper K.L Rahul and some other players.

South African wicket-keeper batter Klaasen's maiden IPL century (104 off 51) propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to 186/5 in 20 overs. After Klaasen, Harry Brook (27 off 19) was the second-best scorer for SRH. Both Klaasen and Brook stitched a quickfire stand of 74 runs for the fourth wicket. On the other hand, Michael Bracewell was the most successful bowler for RCB with his superb 2-13.

After Klaasen, Harry Brook (27 off 19) was the second-best scorer for SRH. Both Klaasen and Brook stitched a quickfire stand of 74 runs for the fourth wicket. Put into bat first, Sunrisers Hyderabad were off to a slow start as RCB pacers Mohammed Siraj and Wayne Parnell kept the openers -- Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi -- on a tight leash.

"We are gonna have a bowl. The last two nights we have had some dew. Good surface but touch on the slower side. Same team as the last game. Hasaranga has a niggle. Bracewell strengthens our batting. We have to start afresh. The game of cricket has a funny way of biting you. You have to have the humility of looking at a fresh game," said Du Plessis at the toss.

Skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli got RCB to a decent start and stitched 50 runs opening partnership. When Glenn Maxwell walked in to bat at No.3, he struck a few lusty blows and raised a 69-run partnership for the second wicket. Both the in-form batters notched up their fifties.

"He's played so well and been great to watch. He's really upped his aggression at the top of the order. He's 38 right now and is looking very fit and has managed to adapt and keep up with youngsters in terms of the way there is need to play. We spoke about not having anchor batters, and he's turned himself into an attacking, dynamic batter at the top of the order," said Smith, an IPL expert for JioCinema, in a select virtual media interaction.