THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGALORE, India — Chris Gayle hammered a 16-ball 44 to set up Royal Challengers Bangalore’s nine-wicket victory over Kochi Tuskers Kerala in the IPL on Sunday.
The left-handed Gayle lashed five sixes and three fours as Royal Challengers easily chased down the target of 126 with 6.5 overs to spare. Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan top-scored with 52 not out.
Royal Challengers made 128-1 off 13.1 overs after first restricting Kochi Tuskers to 125-9 to move up to the third place in the 10-team league following their sixth victory in 10 matches.
In Sunday’s other game, Pune Warriors turned around their seven-match losing streak to beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets in Mohali.
Man of the match Gayle, who scored two centuries in the first four matches, hit 37 in one over off left-arm pacer Prasanth Parameswaran that included a free hit with four sixes and three boundaries.
"Good game. Enjoyed it," Gayle said. "Late night for me. I couldn’t sleep well. Went to bed at 6 a.m."
Gayle put on 67 for the opening wicket with Dilshan before the West Indian was bowled by pacer Vinay Kumar. Dilshan had set the pace before Gayle’s burst when he took 20 off one over from spinner Ramesh Powar. The team’s first 50 came off just 15 balls.
Dilshan, who hit eight fours and a six in his 31-ball knock, put on 61 with Virat Kohli (27) for the unbroken second wicket for their second win over Tuskers this season.
A controlled bowling display by Royal Challengers pegged back Tuskers after the visitors had elected to bat. Medium-pacer Sreenath Aravind and New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori took two wickets each.
"(It was a) complete performance over all," Royal Challengers skipper Vettori said.
Later on Sunday, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, South African Wayne Parnell, man of the match Rahul Sharma and Mitchell Marsh took two wickets each to restrict Kings XI Punjab, who opted to bat, to 119-8 in 20 overs.
Skipper Yuvraj Singh struck 35 to guide Warriors to an upset victory. Left-handed Yuvraj lashed two sixes and two fours in one over off left-arm spinner Bhargav Bhatt to lead Warriors to 120-5 off 17.1 overs.
"150 would have been a decent battle as it (wicket) was getting slower and lower," Kings XI skipper Adam Gilchrist said after his team dropped to the bottom of the table after going without a win in their last five games. "We didn’t build enough partnerships."
Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga was fined five per cent of his match fee for bowling two beamers during Saturday’s match against Delhi Daredevils.
Defending champions Chennai Super Kings play Rajasthan Royals on Monday.
——
Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 128-1 in 13.1 overs (Chris Gayle 44, Tillakaratne Dilshan 52 not out) def. Kochi Tuskers Kerala 125-9 in 20 overs (Sreenath Aravind 2-20, Daniel Vettori 2-24).
Pune Warriors 120-5 in 17.1 overs (Yuvraj Singh 35, Manish Pandey 28; Shalabh Srivastav 2-20) def. Kings XI Punjab 119-8 in 20 overs (Shaun Marsh 32, Dinesh Karthik 30; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-14, Wayne Parnell 2-12, Rahul Sharma 2-17, Mitchell Marsh 2-16).