The pair kept chipping away at 10 runs an over as Buttler brought up his first fifty of the season, off 30 balls, and RR reached 95-1 at the halfway mark. Samson then went after Dagar, smashing a couple of fours and a six to bring up his fifty in style, off 33 balls. The duo kept milking runs at ease and added 148 runs off 86 balls before Mohammad Siraj finally provided the breakthrough, having Samson caught at deep backward square leg on 69 (42).

Samson and Buttler had put RR in a strong position by then, with 36 needed off 32 balls. But that Samson wicket provided a ray of hope for RCB as they dismissed the in-form Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel cheaply. However, Buttler remained calm and with 20 needed off 21, he, along with Shimron Hetmyer, took RR past the finish line with five balls to spare as Buttler, on 94, hit a six with one needed to win to bring up his 100 and finish off the match in style. Buttler remained unbeaten on 100, while Hetmyer remained not out on 11 (6).

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Samson won the toss and elected to field.

Openers Kohli and du Plessis got RCB off to a breezy start. Kohli was the primary aggressor to start off, as he played some delightful wristy shots. He unfurled a couple of lovely flicks for fours and an effortless six off Burger. He hit four fours and a six in the first six overs, while Du Plessis also hit a couple of fours as the pair added 53-0 in the Powerplay.

Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal then pulled things back a bit, giving away just 11 off the next two overs. However, Du Plessis started switching gears, cracking a couple of sixes off Boult, Kohli joined in with a six off Chahal and then another one  straight down the ground off Riyan Parag to bring up his fifty in style.

The pair brought up the 100-run stand in just 71 balls. While in between, RR dropped a couple of tough catches, Boult dropped a relatively simple one of Du Plessis on 42 off Chahal, but the RCB captain’s luck didn’t last long as Chahal had him caught at long on, off the next ball on 44 (33) to break the partnership.

Captain Samson brought back Burger, and the move worked as he cleaned up Glenn Maxwell in the next over. Kohli, though, kept the scoreboard ticking with his placement and timing as he brought up his eighth IPL century off 67 balls in the penultimate over. He finished the innings in style with three fours off Avesh Khan in the final over to take RCB to 183-3 at the end of 20 overs.

Kohli remained unbeaten on 113 off 72 balls with 12 fours and four maximums.

Earlier, in the 18th over of the first innings, RR brought on Shubham Dubey as their Impact Player, replacing Yuzvendra Chahal, who bowled a fine spell of 4-0-34-2. (IPL)