Bangalore: 'Gayle storm' hit Pune hard as the Royal Challengers Bangalore registered an emphatic 130 runs win against the Warriors at Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Tuesday. Gayle thrashed the Pune bowlers left, right and centre on his way to the highest IPL score of 175 runs which he made in 66 balls. In the process he also scored the fasted century in cricket history by reaching the three-figure mark in just 30 balls. Thanks to his sensational knock, RCB reached a mammoth 263 which was the highest score of IPL so far.
Later, it was some brilliant bowling from the quartet of Ravi Rampaul, RP Singh, Jaydev Unadkat and Vinay Kumar who restricted the opposition to 9/133 in their 20 overs. Gayle also rolled his arms over and he ended up picking two wickets in the final over of the match.
Chasing a target of 264 was just too much to ask from PWI as they had to score 13 runs per over which put them under immense pressure. RCB got their first wicket in first over as Robin Uthappa dismissed after getting out on a duck to Murali Kartik. Aaron Finch, who was looking in good touch departed after scoring 18 runs, which included four crisp boundaries. Rampaul dismissed Finch who was caught at the edge of 30-yard circle by Murali Kartik.
PWI dug-out went gloomy when they lost the wicket of Yuvraj Singh and Luke Wright in the fifth over. Yuvraj and Wright contributed 11 and 7 runs to the team total. But Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh put up a great fight and batted sensibly to put a 58 run-stand and took past the team total to 100.
Steve Smith, who was looking very good, got out after scoring 41 off 31 balls and he became the second victim of Rampaul. But after his departure, PWI lost their next four wickets for just 33 runs. Gayle picked up two wickets in the last over of the match and took RCB to a comfortable victory by 130 runs.
Earlier in the evening, it was Gayle-storm who took away the match from PWI in the first five overs itself. Gayle smacked his first 50 runs in just 17 balls and took RCB to a flying start. Tilakaratne Dilshan was finding it hard to middle the ball but Gayle kept thrashing and clearing the ropes with his brutal power. He reached his hundred in next 13 balls that he faced and RCB was 124 for no loss in 9th over. Meanwhile, Tilakaratne Dilshan departed after a significant contribution of 33 runs and it was wright who got the first wicket. This dismissal brought Virat Kohli into the centre but he didn’t bat for too long and departed after contributing just 11 runs.
But Gayle wasn’t in a mood to show any mercy on bowlers and he reached his 150 in just 53 balls. Meanwhile AB De Villiers too seemd to be in a great touch as he scored 31 runs off just eight balls.
Gayle batted till the last ball of the innings and took RCB to a humongous total of 263 in their 20 overs with the loss of just four wickets. Gayle smashed 13 fours and 17 sixes in his blistering knock which earned him man-of-the-match.
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