RCB beat KKR by four wickets
In a rain-affected Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by four wickets on Saturday.
Rain interrupted the game in the first innings of the match, forcing the game to be reduced to a 13 over-encounter between the two sides.
Kolkata posted 89 for the loss of four wickets in their quota of 13 overs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore needed to chase down 102 runs in 13 overs under the Duckworth Lewis Method, which the Bangalore outfit did in just 12.3 overs.
Riding on Chris Gayle’s destructive display of batting, the local team reached 105 runs by losing six wickets.
Chris Gayle continued his menacing form in this match as he scored a blazing 38 runs from 12 balls.
The Caribbean who did not fire significantly in the last three editions of IPL for KKR, displayed his destructive abilities in Bangalore on Saturday, driving the balls to the boundary.
He single handedly spoiled the party for Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and his team as he hit the balls all around the park on Saturday.
The balls disappeared like missiles over the fence as Gayle ravaged the KKR bowlers quite easily.
Gayle hit six boundaries and two huge over boundaries in the match with a strike rate of 316.66, before losing his wicket to Brett Lee.
RCB was comfortably placed at 44 runs in just 2.4 overs when Gayle was caught by Kallis of Lee.
KKR tried to give a fight back after Gayle was dismissed as they started picking wickets at regular intervals.
LA Pomersbach (16), Virat Kohli (15), M Kaif (15), KB Arun Karthik? (1) and SS Tiwary (1) failed to cross the twenty runs mark.
KKR fans hoped to see some turnaround in the game as KKR picked up three wickets between 95 runs to 101 runs.
RCB lost the wickets of Kaif, Karthik and Tiwary during this period in quick succession.
But AB de Villiers with his unbeaten knock of 13 runs and A Mithun (0*) batted sensibly to take the home side to the wining total.
J. Kallis remained the key bowler for the visitors as he picked up two important wickets in the game.
Earlier, KKR had a poor start to the match as they lost three wickets in quick succession.
Morgan (2), Kallis (17) and skipper Gambhir (7) returned back to the pavilion as the KKR scoreboard showed 30 for the loss of three wickets.
Manoj Tiwary and Y. Pathan tried to build the innings from that point with both connecting the balls well with their willow.
Pathan played a quick fire 36 runs from 24 deliveries, hitting two boundaries and three over boundaries with his willow in his signature fashion.
Manoj Tiwary remained unbeaten at 19 runs with Boucher (1) at the end of 13 overs.
KKR lost the wicket of Pathan in the 12.2 over of the game as he could connect a full toss by C K Langeveldt and was caught by Mithun without any mistake.
The KKR innings ended at 89 runs for the loss of four wickets in 13 overs.
Gayle who had also played the key role in destroying KKR in their earlier encounter at Eden Gardens was named the ‘Player of the Match’