On 14 May 2016, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 248 for 3 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and 229 of those runs came from one partnership. Virat Kohli made 109 off 55 balls. AB de Villiers made 129 not out off 52. Gujarat Lions, top of the table that morning, were bowled out for 104 in 18.3 overs. RCB won by 144 runs, the biggest win by runs in IPL history at that point.
The scale is only half of why the night matters. Before it, RCB had won four of their ten games and needed to win all four that were left. A side that had spent the season losing tight games used one evening to repair its net run rate, and that run rate decided the playoff places ten days later. Ten years on, the partnership is still the highest for any wicket in the IPL, and the match is still the first time two batters scored hundreds in the same IPL innings.
The night Bengaluru stopped losing
A season on the edge (April–May 2016)
RCB's 2016 season had been close to a disaster. They beat Sunrisers Hyderabad on 12 April, then lost to Delhi Daredevils, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Lions, Sunrisers again and Kolkata Knight Riders in the next three weeks. By 11 May, when Mumbai beat them by six wickets at the Chinnaswamy, they were 4–6 and cricket's best batting line-up was close to elimination.
Gujarat Lions were in the opposite position. The new franchise, set up for 2016 and 2017 while Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals were suspended, won six of its first seven games and arrived in Bengaluru on 7 wins from 11. The Lions had also beaten RCB by six wickets at Rajkot on 24 April. Their side included Brendon McCullum, Aaron Finch, Dwayne Bravo, Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja, and Praveen Kumar and Dhawal Kulkarni gave them experienced new-ball bowling.
The Lions won the toss and chose to bowl. For ten overs it looked like the right call.
The slow burn: 76 for 1 after ten overs
The first ten overs did not hint at what was coming. Praveen Kumar's opening over cost one run, and Kulkarni's first went for two. Chris Gayle, the most destructive opener of his era, scratched to 6 off 13 balls before Kulkarni bowled him with the fourth ball of the fourth over. RCB were 19 for 1.
De Villiers came in and stayed quiet for a while. RCB ended the powerplay on 42 for 1, an ordinary return on a ground where 60 was normal. Kohli was busy without being brutal: 35 off his first 30 balls, mostly ones and twos with the odd boundary. Jadeja's left-arm spin went for 4 and 5 in his first two overs. After ten overs the score was 76 for 1, which pointed to about 170.
Under the surface, though, de Villiers had reached 36 off his first 20 balls. One batter was setting the platform and the other was already accelerating.
The detonation: 172 runs in the last ten overs
The 12th over, Kulkarni's third, changed the innings. Kohli hit a six, and de Villiers followed with a six and two fours. That over cost 22 runs and was the first of five overs worth 20 or more in the second half.
De Villiers went to 50 off 25 balls. Then he went after Praveen Kumar, the Lions' best bowler, in the 16th over: six, six, four, six. His hundred came off the fifth ball of that over, his 43rd ball, and the over cost 23. By then Kohli, who had reached 50 off 39 balls in the 15th over, was speeding up too.
Overs 16 to 20 went for 23, 14, 30, 30 and 15. The two that cost 30 decided the evening:
- 18th over, Dwayne Bravo, 30 runs. Kohli hit four, six, two, single. De Villiers took five runs off the next ball, then hit two sixes. Bravo bowled seven deliveries and could not stop either batter.
- 19th over, Shivil Kaushik, 30 runs. This one belonged to Kohli. He hit six, four, six, six, six, two. Kohli had already scored two hundreds that season, and this over took him to the brink of a third in under three weeks.
Kohli reached 100 with the second ball of the 20th over, his 53rd ball, and hit two more sixes before Praveen Kumar had him caught by Bravo for 109. Shane Watson was caught by Karthik first ball. That did not matter: RCB had scored 112 in the last five overs and 172 in the last ten.
The collapse: Gujarat Lions 104 all out
Chasing 249 needed something unlikely, and the Lions never came close. Dwayne Smith was bowled by Sreenath Aravind in the second over. McCullum made 11 before de Villiers, still in the game on the field, caught him off Yuzvendra Chahal. Then Chris Jordan took two wickets in two balls in the seventh over. Karthik was caught by de Villiers and Jadeja was caught and bowled. When Chahal trapped Bravo lbw, the Lions were 47 for 5 after 7.4 overs.
Finch made 37 off 38 balls and was the only batter to last, finally caught off a part-timer, Sachin Baby, in the 19th over. Baby took two wickets in four balls to end it. Jordan finished with 4 for 11 in three overs and Chahal with 3 for 19 in four.
Data deep-dive: the 2016 scorecard and the records it set
The match in two innings
| Batter | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Dismissal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AB de Villiers | 129* | 52 | 10 | 12 | not out |
| Virat Kohli | 109 | 55 | 6 | 8 | c Bravo b Praveen Kumar |
| Chris Gayle | 6 | 13 | 1 | 0 | b Kulkarni |
| Shane Watson | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | c Karthik b Praveen Kumar |
| RCB total | 248/3 | 20 ov | Extras 4 |
| Bowler (RCB) | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Jordan | 3 | 11 | 4 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 4 | 19 | 3 |
| Sachin Baby | 0.4 | 4 | 2 |
| Sreenath Aravind | 3 | 15 | 1 |
| Gujarat Lions total | 104 all out | 18.3 ov | Top score: Finch 37 (38) |
Twenty sixes in one innings, 12 from de Villiers and 8 from Kohli, while Gayle hit none. De Villiers' 12 sixes was, through the 2025 season, joint-fourth on the list of most sixes in an IPL innings, which Gayle heads with 17 in his 175* in 2013. See the full most sixes record list.
Highest partnerships in IPL history (any wicket, 2008–2025)
| Runs | Pair | Team | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 229 | Kohli & de Villiers | RCB | 14 May 2016 | Chinnaswamy, Bengaluru |
| 215 | Kohli & de Villiers | RCB | 10 May 2015 | Wankhede, Mumbai |
| 210 | KL Rahul & Quinton de Kock | LSG | 18 May 2022 | DY Patil, Navi Mumbai |
| 210 | Sai Sudharsan & Shubman Gill | GT | 10 May 2024 | Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad |
| 206 | Adam Gilchrist & Shaun Marsh | KXIP | 17 May 2011 | Dharamsala |
| 205 | Sai Sudharsan & Shubman Gill | GT | 18 May 2025 | Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi |
| 204 | Chris Gayle & Virat Kohli | RCB | 17 May 2012 | Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi |
Kohli appears in four of the top seven, and the Kohli–de Villiers pair holds the top two. In the ball-by-ball record, the pair put on 100 or more ten times in the IPL, five of them in 2016 alone: 157, 107, 155, 229 and 115.
Two hundreds in one IPL innings
| Date | Team | Batters | Team total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2016 | RCB vs Gujarat Lions | de Villiers 129*, Kohli 109 | 248/3 |
| 31 Mar 2019 | SRH vs RCB | Jonny Bairstow 114, David Warner 100 | 231/2 |
| 10 May 2024 | GT vs CSK | Shubman Gill 104, Sai Sudharsan 103 | 231/3 |
Three years later RCB were on the receiving end of the second instance, in Hyderabad.
Largest wins by runs in the IPL (2008–2025)
| Margin | Winner | Opponent | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 146 runs | Mumbai Indians | Delhi Daredevils | 6 May 2017 |
| 144 runs | RCB | Gujarat Lions | 14 May 2016 |
| 140 runs | Kolkata Knight Riders | RCB | 18 Apr 2008 |
| 138 runs | RCB | Kings XI Punjab | 6 May 2015 |
| 130 runs | RCB | Pune Warriors | 23 Apr 2013 |
The 144-run win broke a record that had stood since the first night of the IPL, when KKR beat RCB by 140 at the same ground. Mumbai's 146 in Delhi a year later is the only bigger margin.
How the innings was built
| Phase | Overs | Runs | Wickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powerplay | 1–6 | 42 | 1 |
| Middle | 7–15 | 94 | 0 |
| Death | 16–20 | 112 | 2 |
RCB scored more in the last five overs than in the first nine combined. Kohli's own split shows the same thing: 35 off his first 30 balls and 74 off his last 25.
Legacy: what the Gujarat Lions night means today
It saved a season and nearly won a title
RCB did not lose again in the league stage. After the Lions came a nine-wicket win at Eden Gardens on 16 May, then an 82-run win over Kings XI Punjab on 18 May, when Kohli made 113 off 50 for his fourth hundred of the season. A six-wicket win over Delhi in Raipur on 22 May finished the run. RCB, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders all finished on 16 points, and net run rate separated them. The 144-run win, by far their biggest of the season, did more for RCB's run rate than any other result, and it put them second, one place clear of the Eliminator.
| Date | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 14 May 2016 | Gujarat Lions | Won by 144 runs |
| 16 May 2016 | Kolkata Knight Riders | Won by 9 wickets |
| 18 May 2016 | Kings XI Punjab | Won by 82 runs |
| 22 May 2016 | Delhi Daredevils | Won by 6 wickets |
| 24 May 2016 | Gujarat Lions (Qualifier 1) | Won by 4 wickets |
| 29 May 2016 | Sunrisers Hyderabad (Final) | Lost by 8 runs |
Finishing second meant RCB played Qualifier 1 at home against the same Lions, and de Villiers rescued that chase with an unbeaten 79, a game reconstructed in our Qualifier 1 piece. The run from 4–6 ended with an eight-run defeat to Sunrisers in the final, covered in our 2016 final reconstruction.
The 973-run season
Kohli's 109 took his 2016 total to 677, on the way to 973 runs, still the most by any batter in a single IPL season through 2025. Shubman Gill's 890 in 2023 and Jos Buttler's 863 in 2022 are the nearest. Kohli made four hundreds that season: 100 against Gujarat Lions in Rajkot, 108 against Rising Pune Supergiants, this 109, and 113 against Kings XI. Buttler equalled the four-hundred season in 2022. Nobody has beaten it.
Kohli has made eight IPL hundreds through 2025, and half of them came in that one season. He is still in RCB's squad.
The template the modern game copied
Totals have grown since. Sunrisers' 287 for 3 in 2024 and 286 for 6 in 2025 lead the all-time list, and 248 for 3 now ranks 13th. But those innings were spread across whole batting orders, built for the "impact player" era. The 2016 total was built by two men, and it is still the reference point for how far one partnership can take an innings.
The match is also a reminder of how quickly a T20 game can be decided. Gujarat Lions finished that league stage top of the table with nine wins, and they still lost by 144 runs. That is the kind of swing CricMind's Oracle has to price into every pre-match call: form and ratings tell you who is likely to win, but T20 cricket's variance means even a top-ranked side can be blown away on a given night. You can see how the model balances team strength against that uncertainty, for any two rated sides, in the Matchup Machine, and every locked call is tracked on the predictions hub.
Three takeaways
- The partnership record has survived the batting boom. The highest IPL total rose from 263 to 287 between 2016 and 2025, but nobody has beaten 229. Kohli and de Villiers still hold the top two places.
- Net run rate won RCB a home Qualifier. On a three-way tie at 16 points, a 144-run win was worth as much as any victory that season. It put RCB second and gave them two chances to reach the final.
- Patience made the scale possible. RCB were 76 for 1 after ten overs and finished on 248. Keeping wickets in hand early let Kohli and de Villiers score 172 in the last ten, which is still the cleanest example of a back-loaded T20 innings.
FAQ
What was the score in RCB vs Gujarat Lions on 14 May 2016?
Royal Challengers Bangalore made 248 for 3 in 20 overs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Gujarat Lions were bowled out for 104 in 18.3 overs, and RCB won by 144 runs.
How many runs did Kohli and de Villiers add together in that match?
They added 229 for the second wicket, coming together at 19 for 1 in the fourth over and staying in until the last over. Through the 2025 season, it is still the highest partnership for any wicket in IPL history.
Who won Player of the Match in RCB vs Gujarat Lions in 2016?
AB de Villiers, for his 129 not out off 52 balls with 10 fours and 12 sixes. He also took two catches when the Lions batted.
Was this the first time two batters scored hundreds in the same IPL innings?
Yes. Kohli's 109 and de Villiers' 129* were the first pair of hundreds in one IPL innings. It has happened twice since: Jonny Bairstow and David Warner for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2019, and Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan for Gujarat Titans in 2024.
Is 144 runs the biggest win in IPL history?
It was the record when it happened, beating KKR's 140-run win over RCB in 2008. Mumbai Indians beat Delhi Daredevils by 146 runs in 2017, so through 2025 RCB's 144 is the second-largest win by runs.
How many hundreds did Virat Kohli score in IPL 2016?
Four: 100 against Gujarat Lions, 108 against Rising Pune Supergiants, 109 in this match, and 113 against Kings XI Punjab. They helped him to 973 runs, still the most in a single IPL season.
Did RCB win IPL 2016?
No. After this match RCB won their remaining league games and Qualifier 1, but lost the final to Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight runs on 29 May 2016. RCB's first title came in 2025.