RCB amass 227/4 against Sunrisers Hyd

Virat Kohli and A B de Villiers toyed with the Sunrisers Hyderabad attack to fire Royal Challengers Bangalore to 227/4 in the team’s opening match of the Indian Premier League here on Tuesday.

The two leading batsmen in world cricket tore apart the opposition attack with a 157-run stand off 87 balls after the early fall of opener Chris Gayle.

Kohli (75 off 51) carried on from where he left off in the World T20 as de Villiers (82 off 42) did his demolition act from the other end. Both of them batting together was a sheer treat for a noisy crowd gathered at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

While Kohli, who opened with Gayle, enthralled the fans with proper cricketing stokes, the South African gave a masterclass in clean hitting. There was little what Sunrisers skipper David Warner could do to contain the two champion batsmen after he put the home team in to bat on a belter of a pitch.

The extent of hitting was such that even a usually economical Ashish Nehra felt the heat on a ground that has seen most sixes in the IPL. The pacer limped off the field after bowling just 2.1 overs in which he conceded 21 runs, leaving his troubled team short of options. 1st innings report