Royal Challengers Bangalore is one of the most entertaining teams in the Indian Premier League. They might have not won a trophy yet but they have reached the finals 3 times and have qualified for the playoffs 8 times in 15 seasons till now.
RCB has the highest team score in the IPL as well as the lowest. They have the most loyal fan base and we feel that the IPL will look incomplete without RCB as teams like these keep the sport alive.
The sixteenth season of IPL has just started and we have seen some top-class opening partnerships till now. Let us have a look at the top-5 opening partnerships of RCB in the IPL to date.
- Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal
In the 2021 IPL, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal decided to go all guns blazing chasing a target of 181 against RR which resulted in an opening partnership of 181* runs between these two batters and RCB winning the match by 10 wickets. This match was played at the Wankhede in Mumbai.
- Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan
Usually, big opening partnerships consist of both batters contributing equally to the score but this 167-run partnership back in 2013 against the Pune Warriors India, saw Dilshan making only 33 runs whereas Gayle made the other runs as he went to score a mammoth 175* individually.
- Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis
In the ongoing season of the IPL, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis thrashed MI’s bowlers as made a 148-run opening stand in RCB’s first match of the season. This excellent partnership came in a chase at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
- Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli
How can we talk about opening partnerships in IPL without talking about a partnership between Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli? These two made a memorable 147-run partnership in a rain-hit match against Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the 2016 IPL. Kohli hit a century in this match with stitches on his hand.
- Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan
Gayle and Dilshan stitched an opening partnership of 123 runs against KKR in the 2011 IPL. This also came in a chase and helped RCB win the match by 9 wickets in just 18.1 overs.
