Indian Premier League: Bangalore thrashes Pune
RCB 181/ 5 20 overs PW 155/5 20 overs
Royal Challengers Bangalore once again proved that the loss of West Indian cricket is their gain, as their new recruit, Chris Gayle, leads the Challengers to an important win over newcomers Pune Warriors, at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.
Gayle smashed a typically belligerent 49 off 26 balls with the aid of 4 sixes and 4 fours to set the tone for his team’s mammoth first innings score of 181 in the allotted overs.
Besides Gayle the in-form, Virat Kohli, chipped in with a crucial 67 off only 42 balls to ensure that the start given by Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan, the new Sri Lankan captain is not wasted.
Kohli’s innings included 4 fours and 4 sixes just like Gayle, yet unlike the brute force of the West Indian, the knock by the Indian was laced with some graceful drives and flicks.
South African http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Alfonso-Thomas-c991, and, Rahul Sharma, picked up 2 wickets apiece.
Pune were off to a blazing start in their reply. Kiwi batsman Jesse Ryder made the most of some poor bowling by hammering a quick fire half century. His innings of 51 came off 34 balls and included 4 fours and a brace of sixes.
Skipper Yuvraj Singh also provided a late impetus in the innings with his contribution of 41 runs that came off 23 balls only. The left hander hit 2 fours and 3 sixes in his innings.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Robin-Uthappa-c2356 was left stranded at the end of the innings and his unbeaten innings of 23 runs off 17 balls only helped in lessening the defeat margin for the hapless Pune team.
Zaheer Khan, skipper Daniel Vettori, and, Gayle, chipped in with a wicket each to restrict the Warriors to a low score. At the end the Warriors were short by 26 runs despite having 5 wickets in their kitty.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virat-Kohli-c95424 was named man of the match for his 67 runs knock that was the icing on the cake for the hosts after the start awarded by Gayle and Dilshan.
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