Gilchrist and Azhar Stunning Punjab win by RCB

Veterans Gilchrist and Azhar Mahmood roll back the years, leading Kings XI Punjab to a 7-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in a crucial Indian Premier League game here on Tuesday.

RCB were riding high after scoring 174 for 3, courtesy a 136-run partnership in 14.2 overs between Chris Gayle (77) and captain Virat Kohli (58), but 41-year old Gilchrist and Mahmood, 38, made light work of the target with a wonderful 118-run stand for the 2nd wicket as Kings XI coasted past the target in 18.1 overs.

Parvinder Awana was the pick of Kings XI bowlers with 3 for 39 while new ball bowler Azar Mahmood came away with 2 for 25 and leg-spinner Piyush Chawla conceded just 27 runs in his 4 overs.

Bangalore bowlers came in for some penalty while they were also unlucky that a few streaky lofted shots by Adam Gilchrist and Mahmood eluded the fielders by a whisker.

The result anchor RCB to 16 points from 15 games while Kings XI moved up to 12 with 2 more matches in hand. RCB, playing at home after 3 weeks and six away games, are slated to play favorites Chennai Super Kings here on May 18. Bangalore loss meant that Mumbai, Chennai and Rajasthan qualified for the play offs.

Score Details

Bangalore- 174/5 (20)
 

Highest Score
 
C Gayle -77(53)
V Kohli- 57(43)

Best Bowling
 
P Awana-3 for 39

Punjab- 176/3 (18.1)
 

Highest Score 

A Gilchrist -85(54)
A Mahmood -61(41)

Punjab Win by 7 Wickets
 

Player of the match-A Gilchrist

Super Kings defeat to Punjab

Dharamsala: Kings XI Punjab severely dented the chances of Chennai Super Kings qualify for the play-offs and kept them in the reckoning with a convincing 6-wicket win in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the picturesque HPCA Stadium on Thursday.

Captain Adam Gilchrist, making a comeback to the Kings XI set-up after a constrain injury kept him out of 9 matches, scored an unbeaten 64 of 46 balls to carry his team past the 121-run target set by Chennai. Thus, Kings XI (16 points) moved into the 5th position behind Chennai (17). Punjab has to play table-toppers Delhi Daredevils while Chennai have completed all their 16 games. 2 wickets each by Praveen Kumar, Azhar Mahmood and Parvinder Awana helped Kings XI restrict Super Kings to a paltry total of 120 for 7 and gain 2 crucial points.

Mandeep Singh (24) and Gilchrist gave their team a lively start, scoring 51 in 6 overs, before the Indian youngster got castled by Albie Morkel. In the absence of Shaun Marsh, Punjab's batting line-up looked thin in star power. Nitin Saini (1) and David Hussey (9) put their team in a spot of bother by getting out in speedy succession.Gilchrist, however, held his end up, hitting out forcefully. He exploded towards the end, scoring 22 runs of Yo Mahesh's 15th over and that sealed the succeed for Punjab.

Put in on a pitch with a greenish tinge, defensive champions Chennai lost Murali Vijay (10) and Michael Hussey (7) without much on the board. Suresh Raina, who is the only player yet to miss a match in the IPL, smacks Mahmood for 2 sixes. However, he fell caught behind in the same over while slash at a wide ball. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who promotes himself up the order, again played a dreary innings scoring six off 16 balls.

West Indian Dwayne Bravo came to the let go of Super Kings when his team was reeling at 46 for four in the 11th over. He played a watchful innings of 48 off 43 balls, stringing small partnerships with Ravindra Jadeja (13) and Morkel (14) as Chennai stutter to a below par score.

Man of the match

Adam Gilchrist