Royal Challengers Bangalore went some way towards banishing the ghost of Albie Morkel's painful heist with a sensational last-ball victory over Pune Warriors at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday.
With 21 runs required off the last over, A.B. de Villiers hit Ashish Nehra for a four and two sixes, and with three needed off the final delivery, Saurabh Tiwary hammered the bowler for a flat six into the sightscreen.
Sourav Ganguly had said in his pre-match press conference that Pune's strength lay in constricting its opponents. No side had crossed 160, he pointed out, and it seemed at the end of 12 overs (76 for three) that RCB wouldn't threaten that mark either; Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mayank Agarwal and Virat Kohli were back in the dugout, and after the fourth, no over had gone for more than eight.
Until the 13th that is. Gayle, who had gone rather quiet, didn't just rise from his slumber; he shook the entire neighbourhood awake. The Jamaican battered Rahul Sharma for five sixes in-a-row, unrecognisably altering the complexion of the match. The target of 107 off 48 had turned into 76 off 42 in the blink of an eye.
Nehra, though, temporarily assuaged any fears Pune had of defeat. Just after Gayle had hit him for a six, he ripped his leg-stump out; defending 63 from four overs without the big man to bowl to now didn't seem so daunting.
De Villiers and Tiwary, however, kept hope alive. The pair hit sixes off Angelo Mathews, leaving RCB to get 28 from two overs. Ashoke Dinda went for seven from the 19th. Nehra will long remember the rest.
Fine launching pad
Uthappa and Ryder built Pune a fine springboard to take off from. RCB failed to tie the pair down, with boundaries arriving thick and fast. There was no Muttiah Muralitharan; the Sri Lankan was rested on his 40th birthday while compatriot Dilshan took his overseas player's spot.
Vettori shuffled his bowlers around but there seemed to be no let up in the outflow. The openers rattled up 63 runs in seven overs, their partnership ending when Ryder's skier was held in the deep.
Uthappa proved adroit at making room and clearing the infield. He survived an appeal for caught behind against Ranji Trophy teammate Appanna before clobbering him flat over the deep midwicket boundary.
Uthappa struck nine fours in all, including successive, impudent reverse-sweeps off Dilshan to raise his fifty.
At 101 for one after 11 overs, with an intimidating arsenal of hitters in wait, Pune looked poised for a gargantuan score, but the blitzkrieg that was anticipated never really materialised. Post Uthappa's dismissal for 69 (45b, 9x4, 2x6), although Steven Smith and Marlon Samuels threatened to explode, they never fully did.
Both were run-out attempting to steal byes; Samuels had looked particularly ominous following two sixes and was understandably livid with the manner of his downfall. Pune eventually managed 182.
Scoreboard:
Pune Warriors : R. Uthappa c Harshal b Vettori 69 (45b, 9x4, 2x6), J. Ryder c Agarwal b Harshal 34 (22b, 4x4, 1x6), S. Ganguly c Agarwal b Vinay 6 (8b), M. Samuels (run out) 34 (20b, 1x4, 2x6), S. Smith (run out) 16 (14b, 1x6), A. Mathews c Kohli b Vinay 10 (7b, 1x6), M. Manhas (not out) 6 (4b, 1x4), Bhuvneshwar (not out) 0 (0b); Extras (lb-3, b-1, w-3): 7; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 182.
Fall of wickets: 1-63 (Ryder), 2-108 (Ganguly), 3-117 (Uthappa), 4-164 (Smith), 5-166 (Samuels), 6-178 (Mathews).
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Zaheer 4-0-34-0, Dilshan 2-0-24-0, Vinay 4-0-34-2, Harshal 4-0-29-1, Vettori 4-0-34-1, Appanna 2-0-23-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: T. Dilshan c Uthappa b Dinda 4 (8b), C. Gayle b Nehra 81 (48b, 4x4, 8x6), M. Agarwal c Manhas b Samuels 9 (10b, 1x6), V. Kohli c Rahul b Mathews 16 (19b, 1x4), S. Tiwary (not out) 36 (23b, 1x4, 2x6), A.B. de Villiers (not out) 33 (14b, 2x4, 3x6); Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-3, nb-2): 7; Total (for four wkts. in 20 overs): 186.
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Dilshan), 2-42 (Agarwal), 3-72 (Kohli), 4-127 (Gayle).
Pune Warriors bowling: Dinda 4-0-28-1, Nehra 4-0-54-1, Bhuvneshwar 4-0-27-0, Samuels 2-0-5-1, Mathews 4-0-35-1, Rahul 2-0-35-0.
Man-of-the-match: C. Gayle.