Gayle Stunning Royal Challengers beat Mumbai

MUMBAI: Chris Gayle exploded once again as Royal Challengers Bangalore beaten Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets at the Wankhede sports ground on Wednesday night. The succeed take Bangalore to 4th place on the points table, but this tent match-up was not as one-sided as the margin of victory suggests.

It could have gone either way when Chris Gayle decided to exert his influence on the match. Bangalore was suffering from the same lethargy that had afflicted Mumbai in the 1st innings, as they chased an ambiguous 141 on a wicket with some help for bowlers. Tillakaratne Dilshan was back in the pavilion, Virat Kohli was struggling to get going, and Gayle, dropped on 21 (by Devon Smith), had also survive a run-out chance. The going was certainly not easy for the visiting team when the West Indian took strike on the 2nd ball of Pragyan Ojha’s 2nd over.

Ojha had claimed Dilshan and approved just 3 in his opening over, and as he ambled in to bowl to the hulking southpaw Bangalore needed 88 from about ten overs - an situation at the best of times, slightly trickier considering the nature of the wicket.Gayle played out dots on the first 2 balls, following which he ran a brace. And then he did what he has come to be known for – he incinerated the bowler.

2 sixes off 2 unpardonable full-tosses, of which the second was an unforgivable no-ball and Bangalore, were favorites. The free-hit too ended in the stands, not only strengthening the Challengers’ place, but also getting Gayle his sixth fifty of the season. In the process, Gayle regained the Orange Cap from Virender Sehwag.

Such unafraid hitting appeared to spark Kohli into action, and the Indian super star deposited Kieron Pollard in the stands, before pulling Malinga to the boundary. It was  Virat Kohli who ended the match in style, carting Rohit Sharma for 6 over the bowler’s head, as Bangalore romped home with 2 overs to spare.

Earlier, Virat Kohli elected to field and on a pitch supporting seamers Bangalore made Mumbai struggle for runs. Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar started out with splendid opening over, and Muttiah Muralitharan vindicated his selection over Vettori with a double strike in the 16th over.

Zaheer khan & Vinay (playing after missing the previous game) reduced the home team to five for 2 after four overs as most batsmen struggled to make decent contact with the ball. James Franklin was the 1st to go, upper-cutting a Vinay short ball to third man. In the same over, Vinay trapped Rohit Sharma in front.Sachin Tendulkar survive a confident shout for leg-before against Vinay Kumar and Mumbai’s distress would have been further compounded if Kohli's throw from backward point had found the stumps, as Tendulkar was struggling to make his ground. The maestro hung in there, and hammered a succession of boundaries to get Mumbai on track.

But just as things were on an upswing, Sachin Tendulkar top-edged a Harshal Patel effort ball that came on to him faster than he had anticipated. Then began a phase of resurrection as Ambati Rayudu and Dinesh Karthik combined for 44 fast runs, before the former holed out to Harshal and was taken in the deep.

Muralitharan had been hard to get, and in the space of 2 balls – one of which was the famed doosraa – the Sri Lankan wizard dismissed both Karthik and Devon Smith, the man who had won Mumbai their last match. Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan Singh struck a few meaty blows, and the West Indian quick 18 runs from the 20th over, bowled by Vinay, as Mumbai Indians finished with 141. However, it was another West Indian who had the final say.

Man of the match:

Chris Gayle

Today Match

Chargers v Daredevils (16:00 local | 10:30 GMT)

Royals v Super Kings (20:00 local | 14:30 GMT)

Bangalore to easy win over Punjab

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)