IPL6: Gayle blitzkreig floors Kolkata in Bangalore

Chris Gayle was in blistering form as he tore apart the Kolkata Knight Riders bowling to hand Bangalore Royal Challengers a convincing eight-wicket victory.

Bangalore have now three wins from four matches and are top of the table with six points.

Gayle paced his innings really well patiently waiting for those bad balls to come his way. He hammered a whooping nine sixes and four boundaries to reach an unbeaten 85 to take Bangalore past the target with still 15 balls to spare.

Gayle also shared a solid 63-run stand with skipper Virat Kohli who hit a superb 27-ball 35 containing four boundaries and two sixes.

“It was a great wicket to bat on and I should have carried on. But, as usual Gayle did a great job tonight as well,” Kohli said after the match.

Gayle is Man of the Match, well of course. Gayle: "You can put the boundary wherever you want, I'll take on the challenge. I'm hungry, I need some food," said man of the moment Gayle.

Losing captain Gambhir said Gayle made the difference.

“All credit to Chris, he took the game away from us,” he said.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders made a challenging 154 for eight in 20 overs with skipper Gautam Gambhir scoring a gritty half century.

The visitors were cruising well at one stage with Pathan and Gambhir taking the centrestage but Bangalore fought back well to ensure they picked up wickets at regular intervals.

Gambhir scored 59 from 46 balls which was his 17th IPL half century, while Pathan hit a 17-ball 23 including three boundaries and a six.

Tiwary scored a quick 23 to provide the late boost to the total.

With Bangalore having a strong batting top order all eyes will be on Kolkata’s key bowler Sunil Narine.

RP Singh had the best return of three for 27 while Henriques and Vinay Kumar claimed two wickets apiece.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE INNINGS

That's Gayle style. Finishes off the match with a huge six. Remains unbeaten on 85. What a victory for Bangalore. Crowds cheeering Gayle and Bangalore.

Another huge one from Gayle. Thats gone for his eighth six.

Bajali bowls, Gayle on strike.

Easy going for Bangalore. They reach 145 for 2 in 17 overs.

De Villiers does not want to stay quiet. He smashed one really hard. Straight over Bhatia's head for a neat six.

Gayle is on fire. Expensive over from Kallis. 18 runs coming off it. Bangalore are 135 for 2 in 16 overs.

Gayle in a hurry another boundary and Bangalore racing closer to victory. Gaye is on 71.

Kallis bowls a no-ball and that is smashed to another huge six by Gayle.

He makes it look so easy. That's Gayle's sixth six for the day.

Great over by Narine, Bangalore are 117 for two in 15 overs.

Narine comes into attack. Keeps it tight. Bangalore just want to see off his last over.

Good over by Kallis except for that wide. Just gives five runs. Bangalore are 115 for 2 in 14 overs.

Gayle's 50 comes of 32 balls, his 14th IPL half century.

Cheeky boundary for De Villiers. It's all happening for Bangalore.

Massive one for Gayle again. Gayle reaches 49. 99meters long. Its the biggest of the match.

Tough chance for Tiwary, de Villiers survives.

Bangalore need 60 from 54 balls.

It's going smooth for Bangalore. With Gayle still around Bangalore look good at the moment. They are 95 in 11 overs.

Take that... A flat six from Gayle as Bangalore reach 89 for 2.

Good over by Balaji except for Gayle's last ball boundary. Crucial wicket of Kohli and five runs coming off it.

AB de Villiers joins Gayle

V Kohli c Morgan b Balaji 35 (27b 4x4 2x6)

Kohli attempts a big one off Balaji but finds Morgan in the deep. Good knock comes to an end. Some heated arguments exchanged before Kohli returns to the dig-out.

19 runs coming from that over. It's becoming easier for Bangalore. 75 for 1 in nine overs.

Two back to back sixes from Kohli and Bangalore reach 73 for 1.

Kohli takes it to another level with a huge six. And the 50 partnership comes up.

Pradeep Sangwan welcomed by a boundary from Gayle.


Kohli's fantastic cover drive takes Bangalore to 56 for 1 in 8 overs.

Balaji takes the ball for Kolkata.

Kohli takes on Narine. Superb cut to a boundary and Bangalore reach 50 for 1.

Gayle reaches 24 off14 balls.

That's Gayle's another huge one and follows it up with another big one. 22 runs coming of that over. Bangalore 43 for 1.

Kohli finally finds the gap smashes two boundaries. Bangalore 30 for 1.

No loose balls from Narine. Just two runs from the over. Bangalore reach 21 for 1 in five overs.

Narine brought into the attack. Can he get an early break?

Kallis uses his experience against Kohli, bowls a brilliant maiden over. Bangalore still at 19 for 1 in four overs.

Gayles sends one high to a massive six, Bangalore reach 19 for 1 in 3 overs.

Kohli comes in. Bangalore 12 for 1

McLaren maintains a tight line and he is rewarded. Removes Agarwal with a beauty.

M Agarwal c Bisla b McLaren 6 (8b 1x4 0x6)

Agrawal also opens his account with a boundary.

Gayle opens account with a boundary. Bangalore are 4 for no loss in 1 over.

Gayle and Agrawal open innings for Bangalore.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS INNINGS

Good effort by Bangalore in the end as they restrict Kolkata to 154 for 8 in 20 overs.

R Bhatia b Singh 13 (7b 2x4 0x6)

That's another one for RP Singh. Super bowling as Bhatia is bowled.

R McLaren run out 2 (3b 0x4 0x6)

RP Singh takes the final over.

Last over to go and we will have to see how much can Kolkata make out of it. Kolkata 148 for 6 in 19 overs

Bhatia did well to get two consecutive boundaries as Kolkata move to 145 for 6 in 18.3 overs.

M Tiwary c de Villiers b Singh 23 (16b 2x4 0x6)

Another one from R P Singh and Manoj Tiwary is back in the dug out. Kolkata 135 for six.

R P SIngh srikes to end Morgan. Bangalore bowlers are doing a good job.

E Morgan c sub b Singh 2 (5b 0x4 0x6)

Kolkata need some big ones now. With only three overs to go, they need a strong total if they were to stop Bangalore.

Bad fielding out there. RP Singh throws into no man's area and four runs gifted. Kolkata 129 for 4.

G Gambhir c & b Vinay Kumar 59 (46b 7x4 1x6)

Vinay back into the attack and he responds removing captain Gambhir. Goes for a pull and Gambhir gets a top edge. A fine knock of 59 comes to an end.

Kolkata needs big shots and skipper Gambhir provides one pulling a great six to take Kolkata 123 for 3 in 16 overs.

A very nicely timed scoop by Tiwary fetches him another boundary. Kolkata move to 109 for 3 in 14.2 overs.

Gambhir reaches his 17th IPL 50. Kolkata move to 104 for 3.

Tiwary is in and is looking agressive mistimes a shot but still manages a boundary after Vinay fails to stop in the deep. Kolkata 101 for 3.

Y Pathan c Vinay Kumar b Henriques 27 (17b 3x4 1x6)

Gambhir guides one to the boundary of the very first ball Moises Henriques but he comes back harder removing Pathan who does not get the distance.

Pathan on a roll. Smashes first ball of Unadkat to a massive six, but survives a close run-out. Pathan reaches 26 in 15 balls.

Murali controls the proceedings giving only four runs as Kolkata reaches 72 for four in 10 overs.

Yusuf Pathan starts with a bang. Hammers three successive boundaries of Vinay. 14 from the over as Kolkata rise to 67 for 2 in 9 overs

J Kallis c Henriques b Vinay Kumar 16 (19b 2x4 0x6)

Vinay continues to bowl well as he ends Kallis for 16. Kolkata 54 for 2 in 8.1 overs

Gambhir's boundary takes Kolkata to 54 for 1 in 8 overs

Vinay Kumar into the attack replacing Henriques who has figures of 3-0-16-1.

Muralitharan goes for 13 in his first over.

Muralitharan concedes a free hit after overstepping and is smacked for a another boundary by Gambhir in the sixth over.

Gambhir greets Muralitharan by stepping out and driving him through extra cover.

Kallis lofts Henriques to another boundary in the fifth over.

Kallis gets a boundary off four overthrows in the fourth over.

Gambhir is on song virtually flicking Henriques through midwicket in the third over.

Gambhir picks up a couple of boundaries on the off in the second over attacking RP Singh.

Gambhir hits the first boundary of the match punching RP Singh through the covers in the second over.

Bangalore missed a run out opportunity after Gambhir was halfway down the pitch with Kallis rooted at the non-striker's end.

Henriques strikes with the last delivery in the first over as Bisla cuts straight to Rahul at point.

M Bisla c Rahul b Henriques 1 (5b 0x4 0x6)

Gambhir and Bisla to open against Henriques.

Challengers have won the toss and invited Knight Riders to bat first.

KL Rahul comes in for left-arm spinner Murali Kartik for RCB.

KKR have made three changes with Pradeep Sangwan in for Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Brett Lee makes way for Ryan McLaren and Balaji back in place of Shami Ahmed .

Teams

RCB - Mayank Agarwal, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (captain), AB de Villiers, Moises Henriques, Arun Karthik (wk), KL Rahul, Vinay Kumar, Pankaj Singh, Jaidev Unadkat, Muttiah Muralitharan

KKR - Gautam Gambhir (captain), Manvinder Bisla (wk), Jacques Kallis, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Eoin Morgan, Ryan McLaren, Rajat Bhatia, Pradeep Sangwan, Sunil Narine, Laksmipathy Balaji

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 12 of IPL6 at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Thursday.

After losing a thrilling tie in the Super Over in an away game to SRH, RCB rallied back brilliantly on their home turf to defeat the Sunrisers Hyderabad convincingly.

The Kolkata Knight Riders opened their account in convincing style when they defeated the Delhi Daredevils in the tournament opener.

However, chasing a modest total against the Rajasthan Royals, the defending champions fell short by 19 runs.

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