Gayle ton lifts Royal Challengers Bangalore against Kings XI Punjab: 1st Innings Report - Part 2
The Royal Challengers Bangalore were flying at run rate of 10.30 runs per over after the first 10 overs had been bowled thanks to Chris Gayle, who was in devastating form as he stood on an unbeaten 70 runs off just 34 deliveries.
Needing a wicket to get some momentum going, the Kings XI Punjab captain, Adam Gilchrist, opted to hand Love Ablish his second over of the match. Virat Kohli smashed him for a four before rotating the strike and getting Gayle back on the crease. Continuing
where he left off, Gayle proceeded to punish Ablish with a hat-trick of boundaries that had the rebel Windies batsman racing towards another improbable T20 century.
Piyush Chawla gave his side some respite when he bowled an entire over to Kohli giving away just four runs in the process, as at that stage going for less than 10 runs an over was a reason to celebrate for the Kings XI bowlers.
Gayle seemed to have an on-going bet with someone as to whether he could hit a boundary off every over. The scary thing was that Gayle was winning as he hit Nayar for a six in the 13th over before repeating the feat in the 14th. The
second six moved him onto 96 runs and in the same over reached the 103 run mark with yet another boundary. Gayle had his second T20 hundred in this IPL season, one of which came in just 36 deliveries.
Gayle had one more boundary to entertain the crowd with before his attempted pull shot went straight into the hand of Harris and the Royal Challengers’ astonishing knock of 107 runs came to an end. Chawla, however, was not finished as he dismissed Virat
Kohli two deliveries later when the bails went flying. Kohli departed for 27 runs that seemed to come at a snail’s pace after Gayle’s knock.
AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary could bat the rest of the five overs without any pressure as their side was already at a 155 runs. Tiwary departed in the 18th over when he was caught and bowled by Harris on 13 runs before Asad Pathan was trapped
leg before wicket on the very next delivery. It was, however, too little too late.
There was one more six for the fans to enjoy when de Villiers hammered McLaren for the six in the 19th over before Mohammad Kaif was bowled by Ryan Harris in the last. The Royal Challengers Bangalore was in a dominating position, setting a target
of 206 runs for the Kings XI Punjab to chase in the second innings.
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