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Ben Stokes hits ton in Rajasthan IPL win

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Virat Kohli made his third 50 of the IPL season but his Bangalore side lost by 8 wickets to Chennai.
Camera IconVirat Kohli made his third 50 of the IPL season but his Bangalore side lost by 8 wickets to Chennai.

Ben Stokes hit his first century in this season's Indian Premier League to propel Rajasthan Royals to an eight-wicket win over leader Mumbai Indians.

At Dubai, Virat Kohli's third half-century in this edition proved to be in vain as Chennai Super Kings thumped playoffs contender Royal Challengers Bangalore by eight wickets.

Stokes regained his touch against one of the best bowling attacks in the IPL as the Englishman made an unbeaten 107 off 60 balls and Rajasthan romped to 2-196 with 10 balls to spare.

Hardik Pandya's 21-ball 60 not out had earlier lifted Mumbai to 5-195 after stand-in captain Kieron Pollard won the toss and chose to bat in the absence of injured regular skipper Rohit Sharma.

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"It's a sort of bittersweet to be honest," Stokes said.

"Bit taken aback by why it's taken me so long to get into the tournament for the team.

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"To be honest the training I've had yesterday was the best I had throughout my time here, so I came into this with a bit of confidence."

Rajasthan is in sixth place with 10 points and still in with a chance to qualify for the playoffs.

Despite its heavy defeat, Mumbai retains the No. 1 spot after 11 games with 14 points on a better net run-rate than Delhi Capitals and Bangalore, who also have 14 points each.

Stokes raised his century with a pulled six off James Pattinson (2-40) before closing the game by lifting the Australian fast bowler over extra cover off the next delivery.

His impressive knock included 14 fours and three sixes.

Pattinson had provided two early breakthroughs inside the batting powerplay but Stokes and Samson's counter-attack proved too much for Mumbai.

Runs weren't so plentiful in the day's other game.

Kohli's 50 off 43 balls included just one four and a six but still formed the nucleus of Bangalore's below-par total of 6-145.

Chennai opener Ruturaj Gaikwad upstaged Kohli with an unbeaten 65 off 51 balls and guided his team to 2-150 in 18.4 overs when he lofted Chris Morris for a six over the long leg boundary.

Bangalore could still finish among the top two while Chennai is in last place with only eight points after losing eight of their 12 games.

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