Virat Kohli bows to fellow batsman AB de Villiers as RCB reach IPL final

'That ends the debate who is the best,' says Royal Challengers Bangalore as AB de Villiers' unbeaten 70 drags Royal Challengers Bangalore across the line to beat Gujarat Lions by four wickets.

AB de Villiers on his way to an unbeaten 79 against Gujarat Lions. Manjunath Kiran / AFP
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Gujarat Lions 158 (20/20 ov)

RCB 159/6 (18.2/20 ov)

Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 4 wickets (with 10 balls remaining)

It is a pity that Royal Challengers Bangalore do not have a water filter company as their sponsors. Or else they would have advertised with delight, “Nothing escapes our three-filter batting line-up.”

Against all odds, they managed to reach a third final in the nine editions of the Indian Premier League, beating Gujarat Lions by four wickets.

The Bangalore line-up have been lopsided in favour of top-heaving batting and one game away from a meltdown if the big three of Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers all cracked.

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Gujarat came close to making that a reality yesterday – dismissing Kohli for a duck and Gayle for just nine – but De Villiers survived as Bangalore collapsed to 29 for five before the South African pulled off a near-miracle at the MA Chinnaswamy Stadium, much to the relief of his captain.

“I don’t believe I am standing here as the winning captain,” Kohli told StarSports.

The gracious top-scorer added: “That ends the debate who is the best. I bow down to the big man [AB]. One of the best knocks under pressure. I am really happy for him.”

Bangalore have never won the title. That win looked very unlikely at the start of their chase of a 159-run target when Dhawal Kulkarni ripped through the top order. Gayle played on. So did Kohli. Lokesh Rahul was out next ball caught by Dwayne Smith at first slip.

Kulkarni missed his hat-trick but came back to have Sachin Baby caught after Ravindra Jadeja had accounted for Shane Watson, also caught by Smith at slip.

But De Villiers emerged from the ruins and piled on the runs with some straight hitting as much as his trademark reverse sweeps. The sight of Stuart Binny (21) and Iqbal Abdulla (33 not out) swinging with abandon and getting away with it helped De Villiers in the final act.

“I knew if I was at the end, we would be close,” De Villiers said. “I was very, very nervous, to be honest.”

It was a roller-coaster ride with Gujarat finding their own saviour when, batting first, Smith bailed them out from nine for three with a knock of 73 from 41 balls.

Though none of the batsmen rallied much, they managed to get to 158 on the last ball of their innings.

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