From 131 for four at the end of 17th over, RCB went past 180 with Shane Watson (34), Sachin Baby (16) and Stuart Binny (16) playing fine cameos. Watson's 21-ball knock was studded with five boundaries and a six.
Binny smashed two sixes and a boundary in the last over while facing only four balls. Umesh Yadav, who was allowed to continue despite bowling two beamers, was hit for 20 runs in the last over and finished with expensive figures of 1/56 in four overs. Umesh gave away 23 runs in the 18th over, which turned things around for RCB.
Young Rahul smashed six boundaries and two sixes during his 32-ball knock, while Kohli found the fence four times while facing 44 balls at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Royal Challengers Bangalore were dealt a blow as Chris Gayle, playing in his first game since returning from the West Indies after the birth of his daughter, gave away his wicket by going for an extravagant shot against Morne Morkel.
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Kohli and Rahul then got together to steady the innings by playing sensibly. Rahul hit Piyush Chawla and Sunil Narine for sixes, while Kohli preferred to play along the ground.
However, while trying to shift gears and accelerate the run rate, Rahul got out to Chawla in the 12th over with RCB at 92 for two.
A B de Villiers (4) failed to get going as he was trapped by Chawla. Kohli, who got a reprieve when Gambhir dropped a sitter off the bowling of Morkel, got out in the very next ball while trying to force the pace.