Ken Borland

Chris Gayle sent the Royal Challengers Bangalore off on the right foot and they maintained control to complete a 35-run victory over the Pune Warriors in their Indian Premier League match at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Friday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/article.aspx?id=1377831

Gayle was once again batting on another planet as his sensational opening onslaught of 57 off 31 balls steered the Royal Challengers to 173 for three, which was always likely to be enough after Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar knocked off the cream of the Pune top-order.

Zaheer switched from over the wicket to around and immediately earned an lbw decision from umpire Billy Bowden against Mohnish Mishra (4) and, two balls later, the left-armer showed his wonderful skills with a delivery that pitched off and hit off to remove Manish Pandey for a duck.

Australian captain Michael Clarke is no doubt unaccustomed to being affiliated with such a struggling side as the basement-dwelling Pune Warriors and he confidently hit out, stroking a couple of boundaries in his 13 off 10 balls before his heave to leg off Vinay found the hands of Manoj Tiwary at deep midwicket.

Pune were 22 for three but Anustup Majumdar then linked up with Robin Uthappa to add 50 for the fourth wicket off just 28 balls.

But the dismissals of both batsmen – Uthappa was stumped by AB de Villiers off Muttiah Muralitharan for 38 off 23 balls and Majumdar was well-caught by Zaheer off Harshal Patel for 31 – left the Warriors in need of a miracle with 72 needed off 35 balls and just four wickets left.

Wicketkeeper De Villiers also claimed the scalp of Angelo Mathews (4), who charged down the pitch and played the worst shot of the match to be stumped off left-arm spinner KP Appanna.

At 105 for six after 15 overs, it was obvious that the Challengers would be victorious and the brilliant bowling of Muralitharan, Zaheer and Vinay ensured that the victory would be comprehensive, the eighth-biggest in terms of runs in this year’s IPL.

The experience and class of Zaheer (4-0-21-2) and Muralitharan (4-0-16-2) spearheaded the Bangalore attack, while Vinay finished with the impressive figures of three for 32.

Gayle’s belligerence had earlier taken Bangalore to 80 for one in the ninth over but, despite Tillakaratne Dilshan’s 53, the visitors faded away in the second half of their innings. Coach Ray Jennings is an independent thinker, but his continued refusal to bat De Villiers higher than number five is an outrage and a major topic of discussion.

De Villiers was left in the dugout until the 18th over and could face just four balls, scoring nine not out, before the end of the innings.

The Indian newspapers will once again be full of another spectacular innings by Gayle, who was ruthless from the outset, hitting the first and last balls of the third over bowled by Krishnakant Upadhyay for six.

The left-hander then had no pity on seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he belted him for four sixes in the sixth over, reaching his half-century off just 24 balls, the fastest in this year’s IPL.

But the impressive Mathews greatly limited the damage as he had Gayle caught at long-on, flat-batting a slower ball, and the Challengers finished with a total that was under expectations given their start.

Captain Virat Kohli under-performed again as he was caught off the leading edge at short-cover off leg-spinner Rahul Sharma for just nine and Dilshan eventually fell for 53 off 44 balls as he was run out, backing up too far, by the quick-thinking Alfonso Thomas.

The last three overs were the only section of the second half of the innings in which the Bangalore batsmen dominated as Saurabh Tiwary finally threatened the crowd with two fours and a six and De Villiers hit the last ball of the innings for six as well.

Tiwary scratched around without much purpose for most of his innings, finishing with 36 not out off 30 balls, which didn’t bother the home crowd much. He was also unable to rotate the strike effectively, which meant De Villiers was not able to face anything more than a handful of deliveries.

Mathews was a cut above the other Pune bowlers, removing Gayle in full flight and conceding just three runs in the 16th over as he finished with one for 14 in three overs.

Chris Gayle carried the Royal Challengers Bangalore without any alarms to a nine-wicket victory with two overs to spare over the Mumbai Indians in their IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.

 – http://www.supersport.com/cricket/indian-premier-league/news/120509/Gayle_wins_it_with_no_alarms

Mumbai were defending just 141 and Gayle and fellow opener Tillakaratne Dilshan quickly foiled any hopes they had of putting pressure on the Bangalore batting by adding 48 for the first wicket.

Gayle was content to see off dangerman Lasith Malinga, who bowled his first three overs for 10 runs, and made a patient start against the new ball on a pitch that offered assistance to the bowlers. The left-hander scored just two runs off his first 10 balls and went to 30 off 30 deliveries before exploding into action.

The West Indian finished with 82 not out off 59 balls, another fine effort by Gayle that took him to the top of the run-scorer’s list and the Orange Cap. Anything short or wide was punished mercilessly by Gayle, who was able to use brute force or tremendous skill to collect five fours and six sixes with consummate ease.

Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha sparked Gayle’s rapid acceleration as he gave him plenty of material to work with in the 11th over, two full tosses being dispatched for six and the next ball being thumped over long-off to bring up his half-century off just 36 deliveries.

Dilshan’s 19 contained three fours as he contributed to the solid start, but the Sri Lankan was frustrated to be given out lbw sweeping at Ojha in the ninth over.

Virat Kohli looked back in good form as he helped Gayle finish the job as he went to a fluent 36 not out off 25 balls, hitting two balls into the crowd.

Malinga and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh were the Mumbai bowlers who put the ball in the right places most often, conceding 20 and 18 runs respectively in their four overs.

The overwhelming victory lifts Bangalore into the top four playoff places, after their bowlers had also dominated as they restricted the Mumbai Indians to 141 for six.

Having won the toss and elected to bowl first, Bangalore captain Kohli was rewarded by one of the better performances by the attack in the fifth season of the IPL.

The pace bowlers – Zaheer Khan (4-0-16-0), Vinay Kumar (4-0-34-2) and Harshal Patel (4-0-24-2) exploited the early moisture in the pitch and champion spinner Muttiah Muralitharan (4-0-24-2) then applied the finishing touches.

Vinay removed James Franklin (1) and Rohit Sharma (0) in the second over as Mumbai crashed to two for two and the first five overs were a real struggle for the home side, with Sachin Tendulkar failing to reproduce the form he showed in his last innings, when he blazed 74 off 44 balls against the Chennai Super Kings.

But Tendulkar reeled off three successive boundaries off Vinay in the sixth over, the million dollar man bowling repetitive half-volleys.

Tendulkar picked up one more boundary and reached 24 off 27 balls before he tried to pull Harshal from outside off stump and could only sky a return catch to the 21-year-old prospect.

Mumbai were 41 for three in the ninth over and floundering, but Dinesh Karthik and Ambati Rayudu consolidated with a stand of 44 in five-and-a-half overs, before Rayudu slapped Harshal to long-off to be dismissed for 22.

Karthik brought his usual clever adaptations to the crease in top-scoring for Mumbai with 44 off 39 balls, picking up three fours and a six, before an attempted slog-sweep was his undoing, the full length of Muralitharan preventing him from getting under the ball and presenting wide long-on with a comfortable catch.

The magic of Murali then claimed the important wicket of Dwayne Smith (2), the hero of Mumbai’s stunning win over Chennai at the weekend, with his next delivery, the West Indian slicing a doosra to point.

But there was another obvious dangerman still at the crease in Kieron Pollard (21*) and he hammered two sixes in the final over of the innings bowled by Vinay, sharing an unbroken stand of 41 in 4.1 overs with Harbhajan (20*).