Gayle powers Royal Challengers to 5-wicket win

Mohali, Apr 21: West Indies batsman Chris Gayle struck a brilliant 87 as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in the IPL match here last night.

Gayle and AB de Villiers (52) added 131 runs for the fifth wicket partnership as RCB , set a target of 164, made 166 with three balls to spare.

Gayle was adjudged the man-of-the-match for his brilliant 56-ball innings that included eight fours and four sixes.

With their second consecutive win, Royal Challengers Bangalore got their campaign back on track after having suffered three losses on the trot.

RCB move up a place to the seventh spot with six points from six matches while Kings XI slipped a spot to the eighth with four points from six matches.

Asked to bat first, Kings XI Punjab, who were without their captain Adam Gilchrist, again made a poor start.

Hoever, stand-in skipper David Hussey (41) and former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood (33 not out) helped them get to a score of 163 for six in 20 overs.

Gilchrist is down with a hamstring injury. Kings XI bowler Parvinder Awana took four wickets for 34 runs.

He took the wickets of opener Mayank Aggarwal (1), Virat Kohli (4) and Saurabh Tiwary (4) to reduce RCB to 25 for three in six overs.

Gayle took his time to settle down before an onslaught. He took 28 balls to score 31 runs but once he took off, there was no stopping him.

The match looked evenly balanced till the 17th over as Royal Challengers needed 24 runs off the last three overs.

But Awana, who was the best bowler for the Kings XI till then, bowled a pathetic 18th over that made things easy for the visitors.

Gayle smashed Awana for 17 runs in the eight-ball over before departing on the fourth ball but by then he had taken Royal Challengers to the threshold of a win.

Hussey took a brilliant catch at extra cover to end Gayle's whirlwind knock.

Mahmood, who registered himself as a British citizen, made a memorable debut in the IPL smashing 33 off 14 balls that helped Kings XI get a competitive total on board. Mahmood's arrival to India was delayed due to visa issues.

The 37-year-old, who has played 21 Tests and 143 ODIs, had surprisingly applied for visa in his Pakistani passport that delayed his arrival.

Clinical KKR Thrash Kings XI By 8 Wickets

Mohali, Apr 18: Kolkata Knight Riders put up a clinical performance to beat Kings XI Punjab comfortably by eight wickets in an Indian Premier League match here today.

Riding on a disciplined bowling and fielding display, KKR first restricted Kings XI to 124 for seven after sent into bowl, and then skipper Gautam Gambhir led from the front with a fine unbeaten half century to overwhelm the target with 21 balls in hand.

Gambhir scored an unbeaten 66 off 44 balls with the help of seven fours and a six to hold the chase together and see his side home.

Gambhir was ably supported by Jacques Kallis, who scored an unbetaen 30 off 23 balls. The duo stitched unconquered 53 runs for the third-wicket as KKR scored 127 for two in 16.3 overs.

Earlier, Kings XI batsmen lost wickets at regular intervals to be restricted to the modest total after opting to bat at the PCA stadium.

Captain Adam Gilchrist, who retired hurt in the sixth over with a right hamstring problem only to return later to drag his side out of trouble, top-scored with an unbeaten 40, while Shaun Marsh made a 30-ball 33 with the help of four boundaries.

Kings XI batsmen struggled from the onset against a determined KKR bowling line up and it could be gauged from the fact that only three of their batters could manage double figures.

Wily West Indian off-spinner Sunil Narine (2/24) and Brett Lee (2/26) starred with the ball for KKR, sharing four wickets between them. Laxmipathy Balaji (1/20) and Rajat Bhatia (1/23) also picked up a wicket each for the visitors.

KKR’s started their run chase on a blistering pace, racing on to their fifty inside the sixth over.

Brendon McCullum (15) was the initial aggressor as he clobbered Praveen Kumar for two boundaries in the first over.