It was the Kings XI who won the toss and put the Challengers in to bat on a pitch that he been ‘spiced up’ by some rain the nighttime before in David Hussey’s words. The innings for Punjab appeared to be going well as Agarwal strike Harris for six in the second over, yet the Aussie pace man, fresh from his stint in the Test side in the Caribbean, got the sweetest of revenge as he removed the batsman two balls later as he produced a peach of a delivery and sent Agarwal’s off stump flying. It took powerhouse Chris Gayle until the 4th over to get going as he carted the now unlucky Harris for a trio of boundaries, taking Bangalore to a rather sedate 25-1 after 5 over’s.
Fours appeared hard to come by, yet Kohli managed one throughout the covers in the 6th over, and then edged another two over’s later. The seamers had been doing such a good job at containing Gayle that it wasn’t until the 10th over that Piyush Chawla was called upon to bowl his legbreaks… yet his late entry appeared justified as Gayle belted him for an instantaneous six and Kohli added the icing on the cake, hitting a four two balls later. After 10 over’s, the star-studded Bangalore team looked in a rock-solid position on 59-1.
Gayle then again took to Chawla’s spin, hitting him for two monster sixes in the 12th over, and the Kings would’ve rued a missed chance off the big man an over later as sub fielder David Miller dropped the big West Indian of Awana, who was then partially punished by Gayle who hit two fours and a six off the second half of the over, bringing up his fifty in the process. Nayar was similarly welcomed into the attack by Kohli, who hit him for a six, only for Chris Gayle to follow suit and bludgeon his fourth maximum of the innings later in the over, the ball travelling an surprising 111 meters.
Azhar Mahmood also appeared to be no the receiving end of analogous treatment from Gayle, yet after being hot for four, the knowledgeable Pakistani all rounder removed the former Windies captain as Miller this time pouched the chance. Gayle went for 71 from 42 balls. AB de Villiers had time to hit a four earlier than his partner Kohli departed for 45 from 42 as Chawla clean bowled him. McDonald managed to hit a four in the 19th over, followed by a classically graceful six from de Villiers, taking the score to 154-3 with one over to go. It was Ryan Harris however who held his courage as he removed both batsmen in a last over that cost just 4 runs, leaving his team 159 to win.
In reply, both openers hit fours before Mandeep Singh took a Zaheer Khan over for 10 runs, as well as a four and a DLF maximum. Mandeep managed one more four before his partner Marsh was dismissed by McDonald, who clean bowled his fellow countryman for 8. Saini got off to a swift start, hitting a rapid four taking his side to 44-1 after 5 over’s. Mandeep appeared to be in a rather successful vein of form as he hit his 6th four and Saini followed this up with his second boundary. Just as the Kings appeared to be running away with the match, Mandeep was removed by Appanna for 43 from 30 balls, LBW trying to sweep. After 10 over’s, the Kings XI were 80-2.
Saini smacked Appanna for four and Hussey lofted Kiwi allrounder Dan Vettori for four before he took a shine to Appanna, crunching a four and two sixes in 3 balls. Saini moved into the fourties as he slapped McDonald for a boundary, and moved to within one of his half century as he slaughtered a Zaheer short ball. After 15 over’s, Punjab appeared to be in control of the game as they sat nicely on132-2.
Hussey hit Pathan for two sixes in the 16th over as Saini got to his landmark, yet was unable to puch on: he was out to McDonald in the 17th over, gone for 50 from 36 deliveries. Things got worse for the Kings as first Azhar and then set-batsman Hussey were run out in a complete shambles of running. Then the impossible happened as a hat trick of run outs was completed: Dogra this time the pursuer of a non-existent single as his partner Nayar walked back to the “pavilion”. The game had indeed taken a hefty twist, and the target for the away side was 5 needed from the last over to be bowled by Vinay Kumar. Despite dropping Dogra, all appeared to be going well for Vinay until the last delivery, which was sent into the stands by Chawla, giving Punjab another away win, this time by 4 wickets with 1 ball remaining.
Summarized Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 158-5
CH Gayle 71 Azhar Mahmood 3-20
V Kohli 45 RJ Harris 1-21
Kings XI Punjab 163-6
N Saini 50 AB McDonald 2-25
DJ Hussey 45 KP Appanna 1-30
Man of the Match:
Chris Gayle (RCB)
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