Kohli hit 3 fours in his 35-ball 32.
S Sreesanth had AB de Villiers caught by James Faulkner in the covers as Bangalore lost their third wicket.
Bangalore lost their second wicket when Abhinav Mukund (19) edged a Siddharth Trivedi delivery onto his stumps.
Chris Gayle smashed 34 runs off 16 balls before Shane Watson had him caught behind by Sanju Samson.
Gayle hit a six and 6 fours in his fiery knock.
The breakthroughs came after Rajasthan Royals captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and chose to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Rajasthan have replaced Sanju Samson and Sachin Baby with Dishant Yagnik and S Sreesanth and also brought in Owais Shah.
Bangalore have brought in Abhinav Mukund, Murali Kartik and Moises Henriques, leaving out Arun Karthik, J Syed Mohammad and AB de Villiers.
Australian Shane Watson has been in cracking form with the bat for Rajasthan while his compatriot James Faulkner has been deadly with the ball.
At home, Rajasthan holds an invincible record so far in the tournament, winning all the four games they have played.
And expectedly, the Rahul Dravid-led side would be hoping to extract revenge against RCB, who defeated Rajasthan by seven wickets when the two sides met earlier at Bangalore.
Dravid has led Rajasthan from the front and has been one the team's main contributors with the bat along with young Ajinkya Rahane.
Bangalore will be short on confidence after the 58-run loss to Mumbai Indians in their last match.
Although they are placed in a good position, Bangalore will be desperate to return to winning ways as they know one more defeat will not only affect their momentum but also can change things around in quick time.
The class of Chris Gayle, who has amassed 450 runs so far, is beyond any doubt and he can tear apart any attack on his day.
Gayle showed his destructing abilities during his record-breaking 175 not out against Pune Warriors a few days back, and RCB would be looking at the West Indian to produce yet another breathtaking knock to make things easier for them.
RCB boasts of a strong batting line-up as apart from Gayle, they also have the likes of skipper Virat Kohli, who has 334 runs under his belt, Tillakaratne Dilshan and AB de Villiers up their ranks.
Teams:
Rajasthan Royals: Rahul Dravid (Capt.), Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane, Owais Shah, Stuart Binny, Brad Hodge, Sanju Samson, James Faulkner, Ajit Chandila, Siddharth Trivedi, S Sreesanth.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Capt.), Chris Gayle, Abhinav Mukund, AB de Villiers, Saurabh Tiwary, Moises Henriques, Ravi Rampaul, R Vinay Kumar, Murali Kartik, Rudra Pratap Singh, Jaidev Unadkat.
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