Mohali: Chris Gayle did it again. The West Indian smashed 87 in just 56 balls to deliver a 5-wicket succeed to Royal Challengers Bangalore over Kings XI Punjab.
Chasing Punjab's 163, Bangalore looked down for the count when they lost 3wickets for precious little on the board. But Gayle and A.B. de Villiers (52, 39b, 6x4) added 131, for the 4th wicket; in a shade under 13 overs to salvage their team from what appears a sure defeat.
In the end Vijay Mallya scored over Preity Zinta. Well, not really, but you get the drift. Now that this vital lump of information has been dispensing with, let us confess that it's all receiving a little too much. It's hard enough for addled, sleep-deprived brains to keep track of the international calendar, leave alone just about two months of the IPL, which generate cliffhangers and duds by the dozen, sideways from too much contrive information disseminated by loud-mouths you wouldn't ever tune into happily.
This exacting game lay somewhere between excitement and bleakness. For a short phase - and any phase in T20 cricket can't be anything but that - the match in danger to descend into mediocrity, the slow-burning, one-sided, low-scoring variety, far from the needless adrenaline rush typical of this format. It take Azhar Mahmood, who turned back the clock in his 14-ball 33, to light up the dusk, but the night belong, once again, to Gayle, who resolute to eschew risks at the start of his innings before erupt into a frenzy of big hits as the play panned out.
Still, we wouldn't really guilt you if, a few months hence, you've beyond what happened on this fine evening on the outer edge of Chandigarh; how Pakistan expert Azhar Mahmood cast aside his visa quandary to play a sizzling cameo; how Gayle went against his natural nature of going for the big heaves right from the get go; how Zinta stand on the sidelines chew nail by manicured nail as Bangalore moved decisively towards the target.
Nor would we judge the watcher for weakness to remember, a few days from now, that it was the domestic workhorse Par winder Awana's wicket-to-wicket bowling, which allowable the team from Le Corbusier city to scupper Bangalore's chase well ahead of it had gained any force. Or that Paul Valthaty, the feeling from last season, failed again; or that nobody, save for the half-centurions, reached double statistics for Bangalore.
Badly, how much of a excellent is too much of a good thing? We don't know yet. What matters is that Bangalore, ambitious by Gayle-force winds, made another spirited total look woefully short, and Punjab, in spite of giving it their all, failed to gain any points from this exacting home fixture. Last word to Gayle, whose only concern - ”Thank God nobody got hit today" - was far from the result of the match.
Man of the match:
Chris Gayle
Today Match
Super Kings v Royals (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)
Daredevils v Warriors (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)
