IPL 2017

Gayle special condemns Lions to bottom spot

by   •  Published on
Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli added 122 for the opening wicket.
Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli added 122 for the opening wicket. © BCCI

Chris Gayle roared back to form in destructive fashion with a 38-ball 77 to help Royal Challengers Bangalore return to winning ways in the Indian Premier League. Gayle's heroics, complimented by another half-century from Virat Kohli helped RCB beat Gujarat Lions by 21 runs on Tuesday (April 18) in Rajkot. Even though Brendon McCullum, and Ishan Kishan to an extent, tried to give Lions some hope, the loss condemned the hosts to the bottom of the table.

The Gayle-Kohli show returns

No other pair has been involved in more century stands than Gayle and Virat Kohli in T20 cricket. But with the big Jamaican's powers appearing to be waning since the last IPL, not many would have anticipated them to repeat their heroics. Gayle has also found himself in and out of the side and might have probably not played on the night had AB de Villiers been fit. The South African superstar revealed hours before the game that he would be missing the clash because of the back injury that has been troubling him for a while. Joining him on the sidelines was spinner Samuel Badree who pulled out due to a niggle.

After Suresh Raina won the toss and inserted the opposition in, Gayle hardly faced a ball in the first three overs with Kohli injecting momentum via three successive boundaries off Dhawal Kulkarni. By Gayle's own admission, the fact that he was only three runs short of becoming the first man to reach 10000 runs in the T20 format was on the back of his mind and he managed to get rid of it in the fourth over of the innings. Basil Thampi, who was once again impressive, relieved the pressure off Gayle with a helpful full toss which was deposited over long off. He then brought up RCB's fifty with a mighty six off Shivil Kaushik in the seventh over and there were clear signs that a big one was on its way.

Raina erred by persisting with the spinners as Gayle floored Jadeja for 20 runs off a single over. And then one of the biggest sixes of the tournament brought up his half-century, off just 23 balls. The Gayle storm was clearly back! Raina finally took off the spinners and brought on Dwayne Smith but it didn't matter. Two more sixes were hit over long on as Kohli played the role of a silent spectator at the other end. During the course of this blitz, the duo became the first pair to register ten century stands in the format. Gayle clearly looked good to bring up his 19th hundred in the format as he raced to 75 by the end of the 12th over. Thampi though finally provided some relief to his side by ending the onslaught in the following over.

The hat that doubled the damage

Things could have been different at one stage if not for McCullum's hat. Yes, you read that right! When Gayle was batting on 38, he took on Jadeja again but failed to time the ball cleanly. McCullum ran to his right from long off and dived to take a superb catch but he also signalled that his hat might have brushed the boundary rope. The replays confirmed the same, much to the Lions' agony. The effort received praise from Kohli but certainly deserved more than that. To make matters worse, six more runs were added to Gayle and RCB's total.

Tye's threat negated

Andrew Tye was the biggest and perhaps the only notable threat in that Lions bowling line up and hence RCB were cautious early on. He conceded only seven runs in the first eleven deliveries and was then taken to the cleaners by a clever Kedar Jadhav at the death. He played a cheeky shot first up in the 17th over by opening the face of the bat and guiding the ball between short third man and point and then the knuckle ball was deposited to the stands in his final over. Two more boundaries were hit as Jadhav fetched 23 runs off Tye from just 11 balls. In the end, RCB posted a daunting total of 213 on the board.

McCullum's lone battle

For the Lions to have had any chance to get anywhere near the total, their intimidating top four of McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Raina and Aaron Finch had to fire in unison. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case as RCB's ploy to open with spin at both ends worked for them. Yuzvendra Chahal, who bowled only one over in the previous game, struck with his second delivery with Smith finding the fielder at the square leg fence. But Raina took the attack to the opposition right from the outset by plundering 19 off the third over. McCullum had only made four from nine deliveries at that point as his captain brought back the memories of his astonishing 25-ball 87 three years ago in the yellow jersey against Kings XI Punjab.

But the entertainment didn't last long though as Chahal cramped Raina for room which resulted in the Lions skipper hitting one tamely to short fine leg. McCullum then went on a rampage and continued with his blazing form in the tournament. Exactly ten years ago on the same day, he had lit up the inaugural match of the first ever IPL with an unbeaten 158. Even though the chances of him repeating those heroics were almost non-existent, a century was much-needed given they had lost Smith and Raina early. He added 66 off 34 balls with Finch before the Australian was deceived by Pawan Negi. With Dinesh Karthik getting dismissed for just one, McCullum was waging a lone battle.

With 80 runs needed off 36 balls, McCullum was in two minds against Chahal. Initially, it appeared as if he wanted to just milk him for singles in order to not lose his wicket to him but then seeing a tossed up delivery, the former New Zealand batsman attempted to hit him out of the park, only to mistime it and find the fielder.

Impressive Kishan's error in judgement

The game was dead and buried with Lions needing 64 from 19 deliveries but Ishan Kishan revived slim hopes by plundering 21 runs in the penultimate over. Even though he had to do more in the final over, needing another 26 runs, the Jharkhand batsman failed to judge the situation and succumbed to pressure. He could have had more against Arvind had he not ducked to a slower ball bouncer that hardly troubled him. And then in the next over, he failed to take a single off the first ball of the over when Tye failed to connect the ball. Off the second ball, instead of looking to farm the strike, he completed a second run which again put Tye on strike. By the time he came back on strike, the equation was out of reach with his side needing 23 off 3.

Where do they go from here?

Both teams now have an away game at the Eden Gardens against a high-flying Kolkata Knight Riders. While the bottom-dwellers Lions have only two days to recover, RCB have a four-day break before their big game.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 213/2 in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 77, Virat Kohli 64; Basil Thampi 1-31, Dhawal Kulkarni 1-37) beat Gujarat Lions 192/7 in 20 overs (Brendon McCullum 72, Ishan Kishan 39; Yuzvendra Chahal 3-31, Pawan Negi 1-21) by 21 runs.

ShareTweet

RELATED STORIES

COMMENTS

Move to top
seductrice.net
universo-virtual.com
buytrendz.net
thisforall.net
benchpressgains.com
qthzb.com
mindhunter9.com
dwjqp1.com
secure-signup.net
ahaayy.com
tressesindia.com
puresybian.com
krpano-chs.com
cre8workshop.com
hdkino.org
peixun021.com
qz786.com
utahperformingartscenter.org
worldqrmconference.com
shangyuwh.com
eejssdfsdfdfjsd.com
playminecraftfreeonline.com
trekvietnamtour.com
your-business-articles.com
essaywritingservice10.com
hindusamaaj.com
joggingvideo.com
wandercoups.com
wormblaster.net
tongchengchuyange0004.com
internetknowing.com
breachurch.com
peachesnginburlesque.com
dataarchitectoo.com
clientfunnelformula.com
30pps.com
cherylroll.com
ks2252.com
prowp.net
webmanicura.com
sofietsshotel.com
facetorch.com
nylawyerreview.com
apapromotions.com
shareparelli.com
goeaglepointe.com
thegreenmanpubphuket.com
karotorossian.com
publicsensor.com
taiwandefence.com
epcsur.com
southstills.com
tvtv98.com
thewellington-hotel.com
bccaipiao.com
colectoresindustrialesgs.com
shenanddcg.com
capriartfilmfestival.com
replicabreitlingsale.com
thaiamarinnewtoncorner.com
gkmcww.com
mbnkbj.com
andrewbrennandesign.com
cod54.com
luobinzhang.com
faithfirst.net
zjyc28.com
tongchengjinyeyouyue0004.com
nhuan6.com
kftz5k.com
oldgardensflowers.com
lightupthefloor.com
bahamamamas-stjohns.com
ly2818.com
905onthebay.com
fonemenu.com
notanothermovie.com
ukrainehighclassescort.com
meincmagazine.com
av-5858.com
yallerdawg.com
donkeythemovie.com
corporatehospitalitygroup.com
boboyy88.com
miteinander-lernen.com
dannayconsulting.com
officialtomsshoesoutletstore.com
forsale-amoxil-amoxicillin.net
generictadalafil-canada.net
guitarlessonseastlondon.com
lesliesrestaurants.com
mattyno9.com
nri-homeloans.com
rtgvisas-qatar.com
salbutamolventolinonline.net
sportsinjuries.info
wedsna.com
rgkntk.com
bkkmarketplace.com
zxqcwx.com
breakupprogram.com
boxcardc.com
unblockyoutubeindonesia.com
fabulousbookmark.com
beat-the.com
guatemala-sailfishing-vacations-charters.com
magie-marketing.com
kingstonliteracy.com
guitaraffinity.com
eurelookinggoodapparel.com
howtolosecheekfat.net
marioncma.org
oliviadavismusic.com
shantelcampbellrealestate.com
shopleborn13.com
topindiafree.com
v-visitors.net
djjky.com
053hh.com
originbluei.com
baucishotel.com
33kkn.com
intrinsiqresearch.com
mariaescort-kiev.com
mymaguk.com
sponsored4u.com
crimsonclass.com
bataillenavale.com
searchtile.com
ze-stribrnych-struh.com
zenithalhype.com
modalpkv.com
bouisset-lafforgue.com
useupload.com
37r.net
autoankauf-muenster.com
bantinbongda.net
bilgius.com
brabustermagazine.com
indigrow.org
miicrosofts.net
mysmiletravel.com
selinasims.com
spellcubesapp.com
usa-faction.com
hypoallergenicdogsnames.com
dailyupdatez.com
foodphotographyreviews.com
cricutcom-setup.com
chprowebdesign.com
katyrealty-kanepa.com
tasramar.com
bilgipinari.org
four-am.com
indiarepublicday.com
inquick-enbooks.com
iracmpi.com
kakaschoenen.com
lsm99flash.com
nana1255.com
ngen-niagara.com
technwzs.com
virtualonlinecasino1345.com
wallpapertop.net
casino-natali.com
iprofit-internet.com
denochemexicana.com
eventhalfkg.com
medcon-taiwan.com
life-himawari.com
myriamshomes.com
nightmarevue.com
healthandfitnesslives.com
androidnews-jp.com
allstarsru.com
bestofthebuckeyestate.com
bestofthefirststate.com
bestwireless7.com
britsmile.com
declarationintermittent.com
findhereall.com
jingyou888.com
lsm99deal.com
lsm99galaxy.com
moozatech.com
nuagh.com
patliyo.com
philomenamagikz.net
rckouba.net
saturnunipessoallda.com
tallahasseefrolics.com
thematurehardcore.net
totalenvironment-inthatquietearth.com
velislavakaymakanova.com
vermontenergetic.com
kakakpintar.com
begorgeouslady.com
1800birks4u.com
2wheelstogo.com
6strip4you.com
bigdata-world.net
emailandco.net
gacapal.com
jharpost.com
krishnaastro.com
lsm99credit.com
mascalzonicampani.com
sitemapxml.org
thecityslums.net
topagh.com
flairnetwebdesign.com
rajasthancarservices.com
bangkaeair.com
beneventocoupon.com
noternet.org
oqtive.com
smilebrightrx.com
decollage-etiquette.com
1millionbestdownloads.com
7658.info
bidbass.com
devlopworldtech.com
digitalmarketingrajkot.com
fluginfo.net
naqlafshk.com
passion-decouverte.com
playsirius.com
spacceleratorintl.com
stikyballs.com
top10way.com
yokidsyogurt.com
zszyhl.com
16firthcrescent.com
abogadolaboralistamd.com
apk2wap.com
aromacremeria.com
banparacard.com
bosmanraws.com
businessproviderblog.com
caltonosa.com
calvaryrevivalchurch.org
chastenedsoulwithabrokenheart.com
cheminotsgardcevennes.com
cooksspot.com
cqxzpt.com
deesywig.com
deltacartoonmaps.com
despixelsetdeshommes.com
duocoracaobrasileiro.com
fareshopbd.com
goodpainspills.com
hemendekor.com
kobisitecdn.com
makaigoods.com
mgs1454.com
piccadillyresidences.com
radiolaondafresca.com
rubendorf.com
searchengineimprov.com
sellmyhrvahome.com
shugahouseessentials.com
sonihullquad.com
subtractkilos.com
valeriekelmansky.com
vipasdigitalmarketing.com
voolivrerj.com
zeelonggroup.com
1015southrockhill.com
10x10b.com
111-online-casinos.com
191cb.com
3665arpentunitd.com
aitesonics.com
bag-shokunin.com
brightotech.com
communication-digitale-services.com
covoakland.org
dariaprimapack.com
freefortniteaccountss.com
gatebizglobal.com
global1entertainmentnews.com
greatytene.com
hiroshiwakita.com
iktodaypk.com
jahatsakong.com
meadowbrookgolfgroup.com
newsbharati.net
platinumstudiosdesign.com
slotxogamesplay.com
strikestaruk.com
trucosdefortnite.com
ufabetrune.com
weddedtowhitmore.com
12940brycecanyonunitb.com
1311dietrichoaks.com
2monarchtraceunit303.com
601legendhill.com
850elaine.com
adieusolasomade.com
andora-ke.com
bestslotxogames.com
cannagomcallen.com
endlesslyhot.com
iestpjva.com
ouqprint.com
pwmaplefest.com
qtylmr.com
rb88betting.com
buscadogues.com
1007macfm.com
born-wild.com
growthinvests.com
promocode-casino.com
proyectogalgoargentina.com
wbthompson-art.com
whitemountainwheels.com
7thavehvl.com
developmethis.com
funkydogbowties.com
travelodgegrandjunction.com
gao-town.com
globalmarketsuite.com
blogshippo.com
hdbka.com
proboards67.com
outletonline-michaelkors.com
kalkis-research.com
thuthuatit.net
buckcash.com
hollistercanada.com
docterror.com
asadart.com
vmayke.org
erwincomputers.com
dirimart.org
okkii.com
loteriasdecehegin.com
mountanalog.com
healingtaobritain.com
ttxmonitor.com
nwordpress.com
11bolabonanza.com