Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) registered a sensational eight-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as Chris Gayle came up with one of his thunderous knock at Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Thursday. He smashed the KKR bowlers all over the park and finished the match with a humongous six. Gayle went on to score 85 runs off just 50 balls. Earlier, it was Moises Henriques who bowled exceptionally well at the start of the innings to get two wickets and in the death overs it was RP Singh also bowled beautifully to pick up three wickets.
Here we bring before you the hits and flops from the match.
HITS
Chris Gayle: Gayle-storm hit the Kolkata Knight Riders very badly as he went on to score 85 runs off just 50 balls. He made mockery of the KKR bowling attack by hitting nine massive sixes. He was adjudged man-of-the-match for his brilliant performance with the bat.
RP Singh: RP Singh was at his very best and kept bowling those Yorkers to keep the batsmen quiet in the death overs. He picked up three wickets and did a spectacular run-out to restrict KKR to 154. He was the leading wicket-taker for RCB as he ended with bowling figures of 3/27 in his quota of four overs.
Moises Henriques: Henriques bowled exceedingly well and gave KKR an early blow by getting Manvinder Bisla out in the first over. When the match was slipping away from RCB, he picked up the very important wicket of Yusuf Pathan. He ended with a bowling figure of 2/24 in his four overs.
Gautam Gambhir: Gambhir was looking in a brilliant touch. He scored 59 runs off 46 balls which was studded with seven fours and one six. He played an instrumental role in guiding KKR to a decent total of 154 runs.
Vinay Kumar: Vinay was in a great shape from the very first over that he bowled. His hard-work earned him the wicket of Jacques Kallis but Yusuf Pathan smacked him for three boundaries in a row. He got rid of dangerous Gautam Gambhir in his third over but he was hit for 13 runs in his final over. He ended with the figures of 2/36 and brought his team back by picking those two crucial wickets at the right time.
FLOPS
Manvinder Bisla: Manvinder Bisla failed to fire again and was dismissed for just one run. His habit of chasing the wide ball got him out as he gave away the catch to the fielder standing at the point.
Muttiah Muralitharan: Muralitharan had a good last game but he looked rusty against Gautam Gambhir on Thursday. In his very first over, he got thrashed for 13 runs and after that he bowled to contain the batsmen rather than to go for wickets. Had he been more aggressive, he could have been more affective against the KKR batsmen.
Jaydev Unadkat: Unadkat went wickets less in his quota of four overs and was smashed for 34 runs. Yusuf Pathan and Gautam Gambhir went after him and scored with ease.
Eoin Morgan: Morgan had tough time against the pace attack of RCB. Vinay Kumar and RP Singh gave him tough time on the crease and got rid of him very soon. Morgan departed after scoring just two runs.
Ryan McLaren: He was introduced to replace Brett Lee. He did well and dismissed Mayank Agarwal but his stats took a massive beating when when came in to bowl his third over as Kohli and Gayle hit him for 22 runs. He ended up with the figures of 1/34 in the three overs that he bowled.
Pradeep Sangwan: Sangwan continued to bowl the short balls and kept getting hit for those huge sixes by Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle. They got 34 runs from his two overs. He got hit for three sixes and two fours.
By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network
