30 April,2011 06:14 AM IST | | Sai Mohan
RCB beat Pune Warriors by 26 runs in a high-scoring encounter at Chinnaswamy
Royal Challengers Bangalore notched up their first home win in the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a 26-run victory over Pune Warriors India at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here yesterday. Pune Warriors, who came into the game on the back of three losses, produced a powerful batting display, but failed to chase down the stiff target of 182.
Royal Challengers Bangalore's Chris Gayle plays a shot against Pune
Warriors during the IPL match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in
Bangalore yesterday. Pics/AFP
Even as Warriors needed 81 runs from the last six overs, the explosive duo of Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa threatened to stand large in front of an inexperienced Bangalore attack that struggled with the exception of skipper Daniel Vettori and Zaheer Khan.
Virat Kohli slammed 67 off 42 balls yesterday
In ideal batting conditions and with Uthappa at the crease, even a target of 46 runs in the last two overs was tough to discount, but a miserly 2-run over from Chris Gayle in the penultimate over of the run-chase sealed a handsome 26-run victory for the hosts.
Pune's run-chase suffered a jolt when Yuvraj mis-timed a pull shot off Zaheer in the third ball of the 17th over, following which young pacers Abhimanyu Mithun and Sreenath Aravind held their nerve in the closing stages of the game. Uthappa remained unbeaten on 23 runs off 16 balls, and could manage only one six, off Aravind, in the last over.
Debutant Jamaluddin Syed Mohamamad, who repeatedly bowled length deliveries that sat up nicely to be struck out of the park, was taken apart by Yuvraj in the 16th over. He returned with few good full-length balls, but had given Pune a sniff of victory. When the strategic time-out was taken after 16 overs, Pune needed 55 off the last four overs. But, Yuvraj's dismissal, and Uthappa's inability to clear the ground, meant Pune had suffered a fourth consecutive loss, and with that slipped to last place in the IPL standings.
Earlier, Chris Gayle and Man of the Match Virat Kohli thoroughly entertained a capacity yesterday evening crowd in the garden city as Bangalore posted a healthy total of 181-5. The hosts' innings largely revolved around two partnerships -- 57 for the opening wicket between Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan, and later the 66-run stand between Kohli and AB de Villiers.
There was an obvious method in Bangalore's madness, as the batsmen targeted the duo of Kamran Khan and Jerome Taylor, who conceded a whopping 91 runs from seven overs. Gayle was brutal against Khan, smashing the left-armer for two sixes and two boundaries in the third over of the contest, after the hosts won the toss and elected to bat.
Gayle once again targeted Khan in the sixth over, smashing two towering sixes, one that rolled over the roof to Cubbon Road. Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma helped Pune claw back into the contest by scalping both the openers in the space of three overs. Sharma conceded only 13 runs off his first three overs, but was taken apart by Kohli and de Villiers during his fourth and final over.
Scoreboard
Royal Challengers Bangalore
Chris Gayle lbw b R Sharma 49
Tillakaratne Dilshan b R Sharma 15
Kohli c Bhati b Thomas 67
De Villiers c Sharma b Thomas 26 Tiwary C Bhatia b Taylor 14 Mohammad Kaif not out 8
Abhimanyu Mithun not out 0 Extras: (B1, W1) 2. Total: (for five wickets in 20 overs) 181.
Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-74, 3-140,
4-169, 5-179.
Bowling: Alfonso Thomas 4-0-23-2, Jerome Taylor 4-0-44- 1,
Kamran Khan 3-0-47-0,
Rahul Sharma 4-0-27-2,
Mithun Manhas 1-0-9-0,
Yuvraj Singh 2-0-10-0,
Jesse Ryder 2-0-20-0.
Pune Warriors
Jesse Ryder c Kaif b Syed Mohammad 51
Tim Paine c Vettori b Aravind 8
M Pandey c Tiwary b Vettori 19 Yuvraj Singh c Syed Mohammad b Khan 41
Robin Uthappa not out 23
Mithun Manhas c Kaif b Gayle 3 Harpreet Singh not out 1.
Extras: (Lb4, W5) 9. Total: (for five wickets in 20 overs) 155.
Fall of wickets: 1-35, 2-79, 3-101,
4-131, 5-137.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4-0-33-1, Sreenath Aravind 4-0-35-1,
Abhimanyu Mithun 4-0-26-0,
Daniel Vettori 4-0-23-1,
Chris Gayle 2-0-8-1,
J Syed Mohammad 2-0-26-1.
Man of the match: Virat Kohli
