<p><strong>Pune Warriors vs Royal Challengers Bangalore – Indian Premier League 5 – Match Recap – Royal Challengers sweep Warriors aside in 35-run win</strong></p>
<p>The Royal Challengers Bangalore could do no wrong as they followed up a solid batting performance with an intense bowling attack, to defeat the Pune Warriors by 35 runs on May 11 at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune.</p>
<p>Rain threatened to stop play before the game began, and after the toss (which the Pune Warriors won, with stand-in skipper Steven Smith choosing to field), another shower delayed the match by roughly an hour.</p>
<p>The Royal Challengers opened their innings with the formidable pair of Chris Gayle (57) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (53), who set up a substantial 80-run foundation for their side. Gayle, who recently won the Orange Cap for having reached the 500-run milestone
in the ongoing season of the IPL, scored half a dozen sixes and 3 fours to reach 57 at the expense of just 31 deliveries, with a strike rate of 183.87.</p>
<p>The Jamaican batsman was dismissed in the 9<sup>th</sup> over, attempting to play a shot over long-on and caught out by Manish Pandey off Angelo Mathews. He was followed to the crease by skipper Virat Kohli, who was fairly unremarkable (after an unbeaten
36 in the previous match), scoring just 9 runs before being sent back to the pavilion by Rahul Sharma.</p>
<p>Following his dismissal, Dilshan set up a 43-run stand with Saurabh Tiwary (36), but the partnership came to an end in the 18<sup>th</sup> over, with the Lankan batsman run out by Alfonso Thomas. However, by now the Royal Challengers were at 138 for 3,
and an unbeaten 35 run-stand between Tiwary and wicketkeeper batsman AB de Villiers (9) in the death overs enabled the visitors to post a total of 173 on the board.</p>
<p>Mathews was the only bowler in the Warriors’ line-up who managed to make any dents in the Challengers’ batting order, claiming 1 (Gayle) for 14 in 3 overs. Sharma took one wicket, but bled 31 in 4 overs. Thomas gave away 46 in 4 overs, while Bhuvneshwar
Kumar leaked 40.</p>
<p>The 174-run chase proved to be too difficult for the Warriors’ batsmen, with every bowler in the Challengers’ attack managing to pick up at least one scalp. The host team’s innings were opened by Michael Clarke (13) and Mohnish Mishra (4), who was replacing
skipper Sourav Ganguly.</p>
<p>Zaheer Khan did not allow the top order to fire, and struck twice in the first over, dismissing Mishra, lbw, before sending Manish Pandey back to the pavilion on duck. This left the Warriors at 4 for 2 at the very start of their innings, and there was more
to come.</p>
<p>Clarke and wicketkeeper batsman Robin Uthappa (who top-scored for his side with 38) got them up to 22 by the 4<sup>th</sup> over, after which the Aussie batsman was dismissed by Vinay Kumar, caught at long-on by Tiwary. The 50-run partnership between Uthappa
and Anustup Majumdar (31) that followed was the Warriors’ highest, after which the remainder of the batting order fell one after the other, without much of a fight.</p>
<p>Mathews (4), Kumar (2), (Thomas (7), Sharma (0), and Krishnakant Upadhyay (11) were all lackluster, with Smith (24 remaining not out till the end of the 20 overs, when the Warriors found themselves cut off at 138 – 35 runs short of the target.</p>
<p>Vinay Kumar picked up 3 for 32, while Muttiah Muralitharan remained the most economical, claiming 2 for 16 in 4 overs. Zaheer Khan also picked up 2 scalps, while Harshal Patel and KP Appanna both claimed one scalp each.</p>
<p>Chris Gayle was awarded the Player of the Match award, and the win enabled the Royal Challengers to move up to the 3<sup>rd</sup> spot on the tournament points table, with their chances of making it to the playoffs having dramatically improved.</p>
<p>While the Warriors’ absence in the next stage of the tournament is all but confirmed, the Challengers will be aiming to cement their spot in the next round as they battle it out with the Mumbai Indians on May 14 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.</p>
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