Gujarat tames Bangalore, despite Kohli ton

Bangalore failed to capitalise on a 63-ball ton from their captain, Virat Kohli, and lost their Indian Twenty20 competition encounter against Gujarat by six wickets in Rajkot on Sunday.

Kohli, with scores of 75, 79, 33 and 80 in the competition this season, won the toss and opted to bat first in a bid to make the most of favourable batting conditions. Bangalore though lost opener Shane Watson in the second over of the match for just six.

Kohli, who went boundary less in the first two overs, thumped Praveen Kumar for two boundaries in the third over, before slapping Pravin Tambe for two more in the fifth. Kohli and AB de Villiers, the mainstays of Bangalore's batting line up, looked to maintain their attacking posture, but de Villiers picked out short cover in the eighth over from Tambe and fell for 20.

Gujarat hoped to capitalise on de Villiers' departure, but Kohli and KL Rahul dropped anchor and added a 121-run stand for the third wicket. Kohli was cautious after de Villiers fell and hit just one boundary in six overs. His 50 came from 40 balls and included six boundaries.

His partner, Rahul, was the main agitator and thumped 50 from just 34 balls. Kohli required 15 runs from the last over to complete his maiden Twenty20 hundred and he clobbered Dwayne Bravo for a six, two fours and took a single to reach the landmark. Kohli's, in all, smashed 11 fours and one six and helped Bangalore post a formidable 180 in their innings.

Following his ton, Kohli predicted that batting second would be "difficult" on the Rajkot pitch, but Gujarat's experienced openers, Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith, gave their side just the start they required to power the chase. The duo thumped 47 runs in 5.2 overs before Smith departed.

The remaining Gujarat batsmen - Suresh Raina, Dinesh Karthik and Ravindra Jadeja - found runs to help their side undo Bangalore with three balls to spare. "Doesn't really feel good right now. Would have liked to cross the line on the right side of the result," Kohli said.

"Missed a couple of hundreds before. Not at any stage was I think about ab out a hundred. Just looking for 170. The opportunity came in the end. [Gayle] should be back in the next game. Batting is not a concern. We are planning a lot of things [with the ball] We want to pull our socks up. Even today, it was slow pitch, we shouldn't have given so many balls close to the batsman that he could hit. Should have kept it away from his reach. Personal performances are good, but not having a win is difficult"