Royal Challengers Bangalore 186 for 4 (Gayle 81, Tiwary 36*, de Villiers 33*) beat Pune Warriors 182 for 6 (Uthappa 69, Ryder 34, Samuels 34) by six wickets
Riding on an impregnable form, the Pune Warriors missed out the winning streak failing to prevail a nail biting finish. The game much under the control of Pune Warriors were let down by Nehra and Rahul Sharma.The toss favoured Dada as he opted to bat first. As a surprise the best spinner of both teams had to warm the bench. However the huge surprise was birthday boy Muthaiah Muralitharan missing out from the much maligned Royal Challengers bowling line-up.
The half empty Chinnaswamy stadium was no match to the Sahara Stadium in terms of crowd and enthusiasm. Uthappa and Jesse Ryder provided a perfect Launchpad making most of the power play overs. The absence of Murali hurt the home team much early in the second over. Dilshan who bowled the second over was swept for a six and cut for a four by Uthappa in consecutive balls. Ryder, who mastered the chase against Chennai super kings continued from where he left. Watching his partner making merry, the New Zealander scored 22 runs in his next 9 balls. He smacked Zaheer, one straight down and another one reaching mid-off boundary. A six and a four followed soon with Ryder sitting pretty at 19 ball 32 runs.
Royal Challengers relieved in the very next over as Ryder skied one to Mayank Agarwal. However Uthappa unfortunately run out in previous match was at his best today never letting the bowlers come back. After the Dilshan onslaught he scored boundaries almost in every over he faced. The opponent captain got the better of Uthappa in his third over. Dada playing with a stiff neck never looked with ease in the middle as his struggle came to an end with Dada’s shot finding sweeper cover fielder.
Marlon Samuels smacked the bowlers to all parts of the ground with his typical Caribbean batting. His innings includes two huge sixes clearing long off and long on boundaries. Along with Steven Smith Samuels plundered 47 runs in 29 balls. The two run outs in successive overs led to a mini collapse at the end. The final score read 182 as both teams returned with a bit of smile.
Gayle and Dilshan arguably the best explosive pair of IPL was up against the one the best bowling unit this year. Dil scoop, the Sri Lankan’s favourite shot went wrong as Uthappa collected an easy catch. Gayle showed what he is capable of in the very next over smashing two sixes and a four. Just when Gayle show looked threatening Mayank gifted his wicket pushing his team in back foot. The home team resorted to singles and were often denied by the disciplined spell of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Samuels. The next spell produced another wicket as Indian vice-Captain who was caught trying to play a big shot something that was missing in last three overs. The Gaylestorm then slacked, slapped, lashed, swatted, walloped Rahul Sharma for Five consecutive sixes and(that made the difference) nearly killed the game.
Gayle again mishit Nehra for a six before getting bowled by a superb slower delivery. The game swung every ball as both teams produced a comeback after letting things. The game was much in balance when the home team required 28 runs in last two overs. Ashok Dinda never let down his captain with his brilliant penultimate over yielding just 7 runs. However AB de Villiers proved why he is the best limited overs batsmen bulldozing Nehra for twenty four runs.
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