A 155-run second-wicket partnership between Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers helped Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Rising Pune Supergiants by 13 runs in the 2016 Indian Premier League on Friday. This was only the second time in the season that the team batting first had won the match. The win took RCB up from seventh to third in the table.

Bangalore skipper Kohli lost his fourth toss in a row and was asked to bat first by his counterpart MS Dhoni, who would have hoped that this season's trend of the chasing teams winning continued. The pitch looked dry and did not have any grass cover, meaning run-scoring wouldn't be easy.

It hardly mattered as Kohli (80 off 63 balls) and de Villiers (83 off 46 balls) combined yet again to notch up their third century stand of the season. After coming together in the fourth over of the innings, the pair walloped the Pune attack all over the park, and almost stayed together till the end of the innings. They were both dismissed in the final over, but not before scoring 155 runs together in just 95 balls. Pune didn't help their case when Ankit Sharma dropped Kohli when he was on 51, with the score at 136/1 in 15.5 overs. RCB put on 49 more runs in the remaining 25 balls to end at 185/3.

Pune had a horror start to their chase, losing the wickets of Faf du Plessis and Steve Smith, and Kevin Pietersen to a calf injury, within the first three overs. Effectively at 18/3 in 2.3 overs, it was all but over for the hosts. This was when Ajinkya Rahane and MS Dhoni came together and decided to stabilise the innings. The pair watchfully built their team's score, never panicking and punishing any loose delivery.

Rahane was dismissed by South African debutant left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi in the 15th over after scoring 60 off 46 balls, with the score at 109/3. Pune still needed 77 runs from 32 balls at this stage. Dhoni was on 39 off 35 balls, and had struck only three fours and no six. The equation became 66 runs required from 26 balls, when Dhoni finally decided to go for the big shot. Unfortunately for the Pune skipper, he could only find the safe hands of de Villiers at long-off.

With 65 required off the last four overs, and Thisara Perera being the only big-hitter still alive, no many would have given Pune a chance. However, the Sri Lankan pulled Shane Watson for a huge six, after Rajat Bhatia had hit the Australian for a four off the first ball of the 17th over. The switch had finally been turned on.

Fifty required off 18 balls was soon reduced to 25 off 12, as Perera and Bhatia struck two mighty sixes and three fours off the bowling of medium-pacer Harshal Patel. Was this going to be a fairytale finish for the hosts? Watson had other plans, as he got Perera (34 off 13 balls) to hole out to cover in the following over. That was the game, as Pune eventually fell short by 13 runs.