After a full-house at Bengaluru's Chinnaswamy Stadium paid silent tribute to the 11 fans who died amid a stampede at the celebrations for their 2025 triumph outside the ground last June, RCB's hero Kohli then honoured their memory on Saturday with another of his masterly matchwinning knocks.
Chasing Sunrisers Hyderabad's decent 4-203, opener Kohli made the chase seem like kid's stuff as he guided RCB to a six-wicket win with an astounding 26 balls to spare, thanks to his supremely controlled 69no, decorated with five sixes.
It was the quickest any chasing IPL side had reached 200, thanks to Kohli's 64th half-century and a blistering 61 in 26 balls from Devdutt Padikkal.
The match was as good as won when David helped finish the job, clouting a six that nearly had him caught on the boundary on his way to 16no off 10 balls.
But he was just an admiring spectator as Kohli knocked off the winning runs with a sumptuous six and three fours in consecutive balls off Harshal Patel with RCB reaching 4-203 in 15.4 overs.
It was Kohli's first T20 innings since winning the title last year, leaving the 37-year-old to muse: "These breaks help me immensely. I stay fresh, I stay excited, and whenever I come back to play, it's 120 percent."
When Sunrisers were put in to bat, Australia opener Travis Head fell for just 11 off nine balls and Abhishek Sharma, for seven off eight, as their much-vaunted 'Travishek' launchpad was dynamited by Kiwi quick Jacob Duffy.
But Ishan Kishan, who's taken the captaincy from Pat Cummins until the Australian Test skipper is fit to start, smacked 80 off 38 balls, only being dismissed by the third -- and most startling -- of three catches in the deep by Phil Salt, who clung on one-handed after running at full pelt on the deep backward point boundary.
Aniket Verma's 43 off 18 helped the Sunrisers breach 200, but RCB hadn't missed Josh Hazlewood, thanks to a stellar display from Duffy, who gave a pretty good impression of the Aussie with 3-22 off four-straight overs.
The New Zealander was then immediately replaced by impact sub Padikkal, leaving RCB's assistant coach Dinesh Karthik to report that Duffy had walked off with the cry: "This is the best game I've ever played - now I'm done for the day!"
Actually, he wasn't quite, because he had to return to collect the player-of-the-match award afterwards.
But he looks a handy replacement for Hazlewood. "Aw, I'm just keeping the big fella's seat warm," smiled Duffy.
