Kolkata, April 25 -- Dropping Virat Kohli three balls into the innings can be an ominous sign, especially at a ground like Chinnaswamy where 205/3 isn't exactly a menacing score. Predictably, Kohli made Gujarat Titans pay heavily for that mistake, anchoring the chase with an 81 off 44 balls that guided Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a five-wicket win on Friday, moving them to second on the IPL points table. Leading the demolition was Devdutt Padikkal, whose 27-ball 55 put to shade a resplendent 58-ball hundred from Sai Sudharsan before RCB lost a cluster of wickets By the time Rashid Khan bowled Padikkal with a googly, the second-wicket stand between him and Kohli had fetched 115 runs in just 59 balls. Opening his account with a six whipped off the pads against Kagiso Rabada, Padikkal took on every Titans bowler but none more than Prasidh Krishna, whom he pulled and lofted for two sixes in the ninth over. He brought up his fifty in just 21 balls, carving a six off Khan over deep backward square leg to send RCB flying through the middle overs. Kohli was keeping up the momentum as well, after Washington Sundar gave him a reprieve by dropping a sitter off Mohammed Siraj at mid-wicket in the first over. With a peerless range of strokes focusing on the area between mid-on and midwicket, Kohli kept knocking off runs with eight fours and four sixes until Jason Holder bowled him. What followed was slightly anticlimactic though-RCB losing Jitesh Sharma and captain Rajat Patidar in the space of four balls. Tim David and Krunal Pandya, however, restored normalcy with a flurry of boundaries to seal the win with seven balls to spare. This was Sudharsan's third hundred in as many seasons, and by now there is a particular inevitability about the way he builds his hundreds. Clean, orthodox hitting tempered by the maturity to slowly let the initial momentum gather shape before quietly overtaking the narrative, Sudharsan already seemed to be there by the end of the powerplay when he had faced 29 balls compared to Shubman Gill who batted out seven balls. Early on, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood asked the right questions. There was movement, there was discipline, and for a brief phase, there was uncertainty. Sudharsan's responses were measured-an open-faced glide here, a punch off the back foot there-shots that suggested timing rather than intent. Even the boundaries came with a hint of fortune: an edge running fine, a miscue evading fielders. Once set though, Sudharsan consolidated at an alarming rate. Rasikh Salam Dar strayed in length and width, and Sudharsan pounced-cuts, pulls, and crisp drives threading gaps with precision. The fifty arrived with a touch of audacity, a paddle-scoop over fine leg that spoke of growing confidence. From there, he moved through gears seamlessly. The spinners were next. Pandya was swept, pulled, and even cut off a short ball. Against Suyash Sharma, the reading was early and decisive: a googly picked and lofted cleanly over long-off, a sweep fine behind square. As the innings deepened, the chase for three figures became a subplot rather than a distraction. Singles were nudged into gaps, twos pinched with sharp running, and the occasional boundary ensured the tempo never dipped. On 99, there was no visible tension as Sudharsan found the square of the wicket to bring up another milestone....