Amazing numbers behind AB-Kohli show

229 – The partnership between AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli, the highest in the thirteen-year history of Twenty20 cricket. The previous record was an unbeaten 215, by the same pair for the same team (Royal Challengers Bangalore), last season against the Mumbai Indians.

No other pair has twice scored a 200-run stand in T20s. Interestingly, the highest stand for the second wicket in Tests at Bangalore is just 170 between India’s Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar against the West Indies in 1978.

Report & Highlights: Kohli, De Villiers re-write history

248 – The total posted by Royal Challengers Bangalore, the second highest ever in the IPL. The highest – 263 – was also set by RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, against the Pune Warriors in 2013, that famous match where Chris Gayle scored 175no from 66 balls with the help of 17 sixes. Coincidentally, in both games the last ball of the innings ended with a golden duck – Shane Watson today and Ravi Rampaul in 2013.

112 – Runs scored by RCB in the last five overs of their innings, the highest in IPL history. No team had added 100 off the last five before. The previous highest was 88, by Bangalore against Mumbai in the previous IPL season. It could be that 112 is the highest ever in all T20s but ball-by-ball data for some domestic T20s is not available.

172 – Runs scored by Banglaore in the final 10 overs, again the highest in IPL history and the highest where ball-by-ball data is known. RCB were 1-76 after 10 overs and then added 172 in the second half of the innings to take the total to 248. The previous highest in the IPL was 162 by Kings XI Punjab against Chennai Super Kings at Cuttack in 2014.

43 – The number of balls taken by AB de Villiers to reach his century, the fifth fastest in the IPL. De Villiers trails Australia's Adam Gilchrist (42), David Miller (38), Yusuf Pathan (37) and Chris Gayle (30).  It was de Villier’s third century in T20 cricket, and all three have come in the IPL (one for Delhi Daredevils, two for RCB).

86.82 – The percentage of runs De Villiers scored in boundaries. There were ten fours and twelve sixes in his innings, covering 112 of his 129 runs in boundaries. The highest percentage of runs in boundaries in a century in T20s is 89.47 by Sanath Jayasuriya for the Mumbai Indians against the Chennai Super Kings in the inaugural edition of the IPL. Jayasuriya hit less boundaries but had a higher percentage, with 9 fours and 11 sixes in an innings of 114no.

3 – Number of hundreds Virat Kohli has scored in the current IPL season – so far – becoming the first batsman to register three centuries in one season. The only other batsman who has scored two hundreds in an IPL season is Gayle, who did so in 2011. Even more amazingly, Kohli has scored three centuries in his past seven innings but before that run he had never scored a hundred in 20-over cricket. It took him 181 innings, the most by any batsman, to score his maiden three-figure score.

9 – Number of dot balls bowled by Ravi Jadeja to AB de Villiers. An astonishing digit bearing in mind that the batsman scored 129 not out off 52 balls and reached a century from just 43 balls. This surely is the stat that puts de Villiers' genius into context.

2 – Number of players from South Africa who have scored 5,000 runs in T20 cricket. AB de Villiers during the course of his 129 became just the second, after JP Duminy, to reach this milestone. Overall he is 18th player to accumulate 5,000 in T20s. Ryan ten Doeschate is another South Africa-born player with 5,000 runs but never played for country of his birth.

2 – Two is also the number of instances where two batsmen have each scored a century in an innings in T20 cricket. Before de Villiers and Kohli, Gloucestershire’s Kevin O’Brien and Hamish Marshall achieved the feat against Middlesex at Uxbridge in 2011.

144 – The number of runs by which RCB won the match after they bowled the Gujrat Lions out on 104. It is the highest margin of victory by runs ever in the IPL. The previous record was 140, in the IPL's first eve match, won by the Kolkata Knight Riders against RCB, way back on April 18, 2008.