On a night of milestones, Royal Challengers Bangalore maintained their perfect start to the 2021 season in the Indian Premier League with their fourth straight win, improving on their best-ever start to the tournament. It was also RCB’s 200th match in the IPL, as they became the second franchise after Mumbai Indians to reach that milestone.

The headlines though belonged to young Devdutt Padikkal, who scored his first IPL hundred and skipper Virat Kohli, who became the first batsman to cross 6,000 runs in the tournament.

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Pace bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel claimed three wickets each to set up victory after Bangalore kept Rajasthan down to 177/9.

Siraj struck early with two key wickets of Jos Buttler, for eight, and David Miller, for nought, as Rajasthan slipped to 18-3 after being put into bat first.

Shivam Dube’s 32-ball 46 boosted the Rajasthan total but in the end, it proved well below par.

Padikkal, who made 101*, and Kohli, who made 72, stood undefeated as Bangalore outplayed Rajasthan Royals by 10 wickets in Mumbai to reclaim the top spot in the eight-team table.

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Bangalore chased down their target of 178 with 3.3 overs to spare even as a proud Kohli warned his fans not to get “over-excited” as Bangalore search for their maiden IPL title.

The left-handed Padikkal raised his hundred in just 51 balls as he hit 11 fours and six sixes.

Kohli witnessed the 20-year-old’s innings from the other end and praised the youngster for a stellar show.

“It was an outstanding innings. He did pick the right areas to hit and once he got going it was almost impossible to stop him,” said Kohli.

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“Great talent, great one to watch out for in the future. I had the best seat in the house and thoroughly enjoyed his innings.”

Kohli, who smashed three sixes in his 47-ball knock, started cautiously and slowly picked up the pace as he reached his first fifty of the season in 34 balls.

The skipper soon went past 6,000 IPL runs in 196 games to increase the gap between him and number two IPL scorer Suresh Raina of Chennai Super Kings (5,448 in 197 matches).

Here are the various milestones RCB achieved on the night:

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(Scroll across or swipe right to view all columns in the tables below)

Leading run-scorers in IPL history

PLAYER Inns Runs Avg SR 100s / 50s
Virat Kohli 188 6021 38.35 130.69 5 / 40
Suresh Raina 192 5448 33.21 137.09 1 / 39
Shikhar Dhawan 179 5428 35.01 127.65 2 / 43
David Warner 146 5384 42.39 140.79 4 / 49
Rohit Sharma 199 5368 31.39 130.73 1 / 39

The unbroken partnership between Padikkal and Kohli was the joint fourth-best for the opening wicket in the IPL and best for RCB.

Highest opening partnerships in IPL

Partners Runs Team Opponent Venue Date
JM Bairstow, DA Warner 185 SRH RCB Hyderabad 31 Mar 2019
G Gambhir, CA Lynn 184* KKR GL Rajkot 7 Apr 2017
KL Rahul, MA Agarwal 183 KXIP RR Sharjah 27 Sep 2020
SR Watson, F du Plessis 181* CSK KXIP Dubai (DSC) 4 Oct 2020
V Kohli, D Padikkal 181* RCB RR Mumbai 22 Apr 2021

Virat Kohli-Devdutt Padikkal partnership: 181*

- The record opening partnership for RCB

- The highest all-Indian partnership for RCB

- The fourth highest for RCB (following Kohli-ABD, Kohli-ABD, Gayle-Kohli)

The partnership also meant that Kohli’s name now features in RCB’s four highest partnerships, the only player across teams to have that feat.

Highest partnerships for RCB in IPL

Partners Runs Wicket Opposition Ground Match Date
V Kohli, AB de Villiers 229 2nd GL Bengaluru 14 May 2016
V Kohli, AB de Villiers 215* 2nd MI Mumbai 10 May 2015
C Gayle, V Kohli 204* 2nd DD Delhi 17 May 2012
V Kohli, D Padikkal 181* 1st RR Mumbai 22 Apr 2021
CH Gayle, T Dilshan 167 1st PWI Bengaluru 23 Apr 2013

RCB’s 10-wicket win was the fourth in the franchise’s history in IPL and the second against RR. Now the franchise has registered more than two 10-wicket wins in the tournament (MI, CSK, SRH have two each). It was also the third highest score to be chased down without losing a wicket, and the highest for RCB.

Highest target chased with 10 wickets to spare

Team (Openers) Target Overs chased Opponent Venue Date
KKR (Gambhir / Lynn) 184 14.5 v GL Rajkot 7 Apr 2017
CSK (Watson / du Plessis) 179 17.4 v KXIP Dubai 4 Oct 2020
RCB (Kohli / Padikkal) 178 16.3 v RR Mumbai 22 Apr 2021
MI (Tendulkar / Smith) 163 18.0 v RR Jaipur 20 May 2012
DC (Gilchrist / Laxman) 155 12.0 v MI Mumbai 27 Apr 2008

With his century against Royals, Padikkal became the first player born after 2000 to score an IPL century and the third youngest overall. He is also only the fourth player to score a century in IPL while being uncapped by the national side.

Padikkal’s century also was significant for RCB because it put them one clear on the table of the franchise with the most centurions in the history of IPL.

List of IPL centuries for RCB

Player Runs Balls 4s 6s SR Opposition Ground Match Date
MK Pandey 114* 73 10 4 156.16 v Chargers Centurion 21 May 2009
CH Gayle 102* 55 10 7 185.45 v KKR Kolkata 22 Apr 2011
CH Gayle 107 49 10 9 218.36 v Kings XI Bengaluru 6 May 2011
CH Gayle 128* 62 7 13 206.45 v Daredevils Delhi 17 May 2012
CH Gayle 175* 66 13 17 265.15 v Warriors Bengaluru 23 Apr 2013
CH Gayle 117 57 7 12 205.26 v Kings XI Bengaluru 6 May 2015
AB de Villiers 133* 59 19 4 225.42 v Mum Indians Mumbai 10 May 2015
V Kohli 100* 63 11 1 158.73 v Guj Lions Rajkot 24 Apr 2016
V Kohli 108* 58 8 7 186.20 v Supergiants Bengaluru 7 May 2016
V Kohli 109 55 5 8 198.18 v Guj Lions Bengaluru 14 May 2016
AB de Villiers 129* 52 10 12 248.07 v Guj Lions Bengaluru 14 May 2016
V Kohli 113 50 12 8 226.00 v Kings XI Bengaluru 18 May 2016
V Kohli 100 58 9 4 172.41 v KKR Kolkata 19 Apr 2019
D Padikkal 101* 52 11 6 194.23 v Royals Mumbai 22 Apr 2021

Centuries in IPL by franchise

Team  No of centuries in IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore 14
Punjab (Kings XI / PBKS) 13
Delhi (Daredevils / Capitals) 10
Rajasthan Royals 8
Chennai Super Kings 8
Mumbai Indians 4
Sunrisers Hyderabad 3
Rising Pune Supergiant(s) 2
Deccan Chargers 2
Kolkata Knight Riders 1

(With AFP inputs)

(Stats courtesy: ESPNCricinfo, iplt20.com and Scroll.in research)