On Monday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru secured their opening IPL win of the season by defeating Punjab Kings by four wickets, with the help of Virat Kohli's impressive performance.
Kohli, a master batsman, hit 11 fours and two sixes in his 49-ball 77 to lead the hosts to victory, despite their loss in the first game of the tournament.
Harshal Patel dismissed Kohli in the 16th over, and soon after, Bengaluru lost another wicket. However, Dinesh Karthik (28) and Mahipal Lomror (17) managed to steady the ship and took their team to victory with an unbeaten partnership of 48 off 18 balls.
Karthik, who hit two sixes and three fours, scored the winning boundary in his 10-ball knock.
The bowlers set up the win, with Mohammed Siraj and Glenn Maxwell taking two wickets each to restrict Punjab to 176-6, despite Shikhar Dhawan's 45.
After being dropped by Jonny Bairstow on the second ball of the chase, Kohli took charge and hit four boundaries in the first over, including three successive hits off Sam Curran.
Kohli's fluent cover drives, flicks on the on-side, and behind-the-wicket hits filled the air with chants of "Kohli, Kohli" as he raised his 51st IPL fifty in just 31 balls and became the third batsman after Chris Gayle and David Warner to score his 100th 50-plus knock in T20 cricket.
Punjab fast bowler Kagiso Rabada took two crucial wickets, dismissing captain Faf du Plessis and Cameron Green, both out on three.
Although Punjab bowlers tried to put pressure on Bengaluru, Kohli and later Karthik ensured victory.
Bengaluru invited Punjab to bat first and struck regularly, with Siraj dismissing Bairstow for eight. However, Punjab's batsmen failed to convert their starts, with Prabhsimran Singh and Curran out for 25 and 23, respectively.