Royal Challengers Bangalore took a giant step towards a place in the Indian Premier League playoffs but not without some timely help from the leader Delhi Daredevils.
Much before Chris Gayle produced his highest IPL innings of an unbeaten 128 and collect another Man-of-the-Match award, Delhi showed its diminished interest in winning the contest.
Morkel rested
Delhi rested pace-spearhead Morne Morkel after an indisposed Virender Sehwag handed over the captaincy to Mahela Jayawardene for the evening. With Delhi's best batsmen and bowler away, Bangalore had won half the battle even for the first ball was bowled.
Riding on an unfinished record partnership of 203 for the second wicket between Gayle and skipper Virat Kohli, Bangalore posted the season's high of 215 for one. At this stage, the visiting team must have been hoping to win by a handsome margin to improve its net-run rate. But Delhi responded with 194 for nine after out-of-form Ross Taylor used the opportunity to hit a 26-ball 55.
The 21-run victory helped Bangalore match fourth-placed Chennai's points tally of 17 points but with a match in hand. Bangalore now needs to beat Deccan Chargers in its last match for a place in the playoffs.
It was a match that produced 409 runs with 22 sixes and 36 fours! But it will be remembered as Gayle's best. Gayle once again produced an innings in keeping with his reputation — destructive and simply ruthless – to blow away the opposition.
Gayle's third IPL century was also the second highest in the competition behind Kolkata's Brandon McCullum's 158 in the inaugural match against Bangalore in 2008. The innings also took his aggregate this season to 706, including 57 sixes. He also became the only player to hit 100 sixes in IPL.
The knock also brought out the lesser-known fact that Gayle does not necessarily look to hit top gear from the start or attempts to reach a landmark with his trademark six.
A maiden bowled by Umesh Yadav to Gayle in the second over of the innings proved to be the proverbial lull before the storm. What followed was a bloodless ‘carnage' with Gayle alone averaging one big hit every over. But his century came off a rare single!
Gayle hoisted 13 sixes to go with his seven boundaries that dotted his 62-ball knock. He hit three sixes in an over from Irfan Pathan and went on to repeat the dose for Pawan Negi. Though Gayle's preferred region for a six was long-off, the last-over six off Varun Aaron over point was a truly breathtaking shot.
Gayle's innings eclipsed Virat Kohli's 53-ball 73 that played its part in the 203-run unbeaten stand for second wicket.
At one stage, after nine over, both players were on 27. Thereafter, once Gayle changed gears, Kohli was quick to surrender strike early in several overs and enjoyed the power-hitting from 22 yards.
Scoreboard:
Royal Challengers Bangalore : C. Gayle (not out) 128 (62b, 7x4, 13x6), T. Dilshan c Irfan b Aaron 10 (7b, 2x4), V. Kohli (not out) 73 (53b, 9x4, 1x6); Extras (nb-2, w-2): 4; Total (for one wkt. in 20 overs): 215.
Fall of wicket : 1-11 (Dilshan).
Delhi Daredevils bowling : Irfan 4-0-44-0, Umesh 4-1-42-0, Aaron 4-0-38-1, Russell 4-0-41-0, Negi 3-0-37-0, Venugopala 1-0-13-0.
Delhi Daredevils : U. Chand c Harshal Patel b Vinay 18 (10b, 2x4, 1x6), D. Warner c Vinay b Zaheer 15 (9b, 2x4, 1x6), Venugopala c Harshal Patel b Muralitharan 36 (24b, 4x4, 1x6), M. Jayawardene c de Villiers b Parameswaran 9 (14b), R. Taylor c Agarwal b Vinay 55 (26b, 7x4, 2x6), N. Ojha c Tiwary b Zaheer 13 (12b, 1x4), A. Russell c Kohli b Parameswaran 31 (15b, 1x4, 3x6), Irfan c Dilshan b Zaheer 4 (4b), P. Negi (not out) 6 (4b, 1x4), Umesh c Tiwary b Parameswaran 0 (2b); Extras (lb-3, w-4): 7; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 194.
Fall of wickets : 1-17 (Warner), 2-45 (Chand), 3-69 (Jayawardene), 4-107 (Venugopala), 5-151 (Ojha), 6-159 (Taylor), 7-171 (Irfan), 8-192 (Russell), 9-194 (Umesh).
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling : Dilshan 1-0-11-0, Zaheer 4-0-38-3, Vinay 4-0-35-2, Harshal Patel 4-0-33-0, Muralitharan 4-0-44-1, Parameswaran 3-0-30-3.
Man-of-the-match : C. Gayle.
