Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers guided the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a 46-run IPL win over the Rajasthan Royals on Monday.
Dilshan and de Villiers combined for 122 off 8.2 overs for the fourth wicket, steering Bangalore to 189-3 after the Royals won the toss and elected to field at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Rajasthan could only manage 143-7 in reply, with Rahul Dravid (58 off 42 balls) the only player to score more than 20 runs for the home side.
Powerful opener Chris Gayle fell sick before the match and was pushed down the order in favour of Virat Kohli and Dilshan, who made a sluggish start to proceedings.
Kohli fell first for 16 off 16 balls and was followed soon after by Mayank Agarwal (15 off 17) and Gayle (4 off 8), leaving Bangalore at 67-3 in the 12th over.
Man of the match de Villiers restored order for Bangalore, firing five sixes and blasting 59 off 23 deliveries, while Dilshan ended on 76 off 58 balls.
Brad Hogg took 39-2 for the Royals with Pankaj Singh the next best with figures of 32-1.
Rajasthan managed just one six in their innings and were on the ropes early.
KP Appanna took the wickets of Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane (13 off 18), Owais Shah (10 off 15) and Shreevats Goswami (1 off 2), leaving the Royals at 91-4 in the 14th over.
Appanna ended with figures of 19-4 from his four overs, prompting de Villiers to hand over his man of the match honours at the post-match presentation.
Brad Hodge (10 off 8), Kevon Cooper (8 off 6) and Hogg (13 off 11) all fell cheaply, while Stuart Binny was left stranded at the end of Rajasthan's 20 overs on 20 not out.
Harshal Patel (32-2) and Zaheer Khan (30-1) chipped in with wickets for Bangalore.
The win moves Bangalore to sixth on the IPL table and equal on points with the Royals, who could have gone on top of the standings with a victory.