Royal Challengers Bangalore finished atop in the group stage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after Chris Gayle hit a 50-ball 75 to guide them to a eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings here on Sunday.
Royal Challengers restricted Super Kings to a modest 128 for eight and then romped home with 12-balls to spare.
Gayle was in his elements, struck six sixes and four fours during his 50-ball whirlwind knock and took his aggregate to 511 runs in only nine innings. Virat Kohli also scored 31 in 29 balls, hitting five fours, that made life difficult for the Chennai bowlers.
Bangalore lost AB de Villiers in the third ball and lost, but the 79-run stand between Gayle and Kohli settled the issue for the hosts.
Earlier, put in to bat by Daniel Vettori, Super Kings lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings, and reached 128 for eight in their 20 overs thanks to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s 40-ball knock of 70, that was studded with three fours and six sixes.
Dhoni came down hard on paceman Abhimanyu Mithun, who conceded 17 runs
in the final over of the innings and was clobbered for 35 runs in his four overs.
Besides Dhoni, only Wriddhiman Saha (22) was the other batsmen who got to double figures.