Maxwell, de Villiers destroy Kolkata in the IPL

Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers both shone with the bat as the Royal Challengers Bangalore thumped the Kolkata Knight Riders by 38 runs for their third straight win of the Indian Premier League.

De Villiers' unbeaten 76 off 34 balls, with nine fours and three sixes, earned him the player of the match award in Bangalore's total of 4-204.

But after Virat Kohli had won the toss and chosen to bat, it was Maxwell who did most to steady the innings after the captain had fallen cheaply.

Just as he had produced fine performances with the bat in their opening two games, the Australian again produced the goods for his new franchise, matching de Villiers in also smashing nine fours and three sixes in his 78 off 49 deliveries.

Kolkata's top-order batsmen couldn't convert good starts and Bangalore restricted them to 8-166 with New Zealand fast bowler Kyle Jamieson picking up 3-41.

"Well, I said at the halfway mark we have 200 because of two genius innings back-to-back. Maxwell was outstanding and AB to follow," said Kohli afterwards.

"When he (de Villiers) gets in with that kind of form and flow, it's impossible to stop him.

"We got 40 extra runs on that pitch, which slowed down. 'Maxi' has taken to this team like duck to water. AB loves the team and they were the difference today."

After losing Kohli for just five in the second over, Maxwell dominated both spinners and fast bowlers on a wicket where the ball nicely came onto the bat.

He was finally outdone by fellow Australian Pat Cummins' short-pitched delivery in the 17th over as he top-edged a pull shot to short fine leg.

De Villiers and Jamieson smashed Andre Russell for 38 runs off his two overs and Harbhajan Singh conceded 18 off the penultimate over as the last 18 balls yielded 56.

Kolkata opener Shubman Gill (21 off nine balls) blazed two sixes and two fours, but Australian Dan Christian, on as a substitute fielder, took a spectacular two-handed diving catch at mid-on in the second over.

Russell (31), captain Eoin Morgan (29) and Shakib Al Hasan (26) all scored at better than a run-a-ball, but Bangalore kept taking wickets at regular intervals to end their Chennai leg of the event with three wins from three games.

In Sunday's later game in Mumbai, the Delhi Capitals enjoyed a six-wicket victory against Punjab Kings thanks largely to opener Shikhar Dhawan's 49-ball 92 that propelled them to 4-198 with 10 balls to spare as they chased 4-195.

Earlier, Delhi had recovered well to contain Punjab after Mayank Agarwal (69) and captain KL Rahul (61) had featured in a 122-run opening stand off 76 balls.