Bengaluru: 'Gayle storm' hit Mumbai Indians in their very first match as the West Indian played a fantastic knock of 92 runs of 58 balls and took his team to a competitive score of 156 runs and later Vinay Kumar produced a magical last over to give Royal Challengers Banagalore a thrilling last ball victory in their first match of IPL 6 at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
Mumbai Indians were looking really good till the time they lost two wickets in the last over which gave Royal Challengers Bangalore a chance to make a comeback and they kept their cool to clinch the thriller by two runs.
Mumbai Indians were off to a cautious start as Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting took their time to get into the groove but after the first two overs, Tendulkar started dealing in boundaries and was well complimented by Ponting. Things were going as planned for Mumbai until they lost the Master who was found short of the crease by a whisker. Soon Murali Karthik got Ponting stumped with his straighter one.
The fall of Ponting brought Rohit Sharma on to the crease but he once again threw his wicket by playing a rash shot to Vinay Kumar at a very crucial stage of the match.
However Dinesh Karthik had other plans in his mind as after playing cautioisly in the beginning he decided to after Daniel Christian and hit him for three sixes and one four in his final over to reach his first fifty of the season in just 31 balls. Karthik played a stupendous knock of 60 runs in just 37 balls and brought Mumbai head to head till the final over of the game. Ambati Rayudu did complement him very well under the pressure situation but it was just not good enough to be on the winning side. Both were dismissed by Vinay Kumar who bowled an exciting last over of the innings. With eight runs required in two balls, Kieron Pollard managed to get a boundary but failed middle the last ball of the innings that gave the hosts a much deserved victory.
Earlier , Chris Gayle and Tilakaratne Dilshan started the proceedings for RCB. Dilshan was flummoxed by a fuller delivery from Mitchell Johnson which took off his his off-stump and Gayle was joined by skipper Virat Kohli at the centre. Virat started off with an elegant shot which went for four and he kept dealing in boundaries. However Gayle was much subdued at the other end.
Kohli too didn't last long and was out after scoring 24 runs. Thereafter RCB kept on losing wickets regulary and it was debutant Jasprit Bumrah who bowled some some incredible deliveries to send Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal and KK Nair back into the dug out area.
But Chris Gayle changed gear when it mattered the most and ensured that his team crosses the 150 mark. He found an able partner in Arun Karthik who scored run-a-ball 19 runs. RCB ended up their innings with a huge six from Chris Gayle who scored 32 runs off Munaf’s last two overs and took the score to 156 for the loss of four wickets. Gayle scored a sensational 92 off just 58 balls.