From the iSport Cricket Pavilion: A blistering innings of 92 off 41 balls from Chris Gayle and an astonishing innings of 84* off 49 balls from Virat Kohli helped Royal Challengers Bangalore chase down 203 and beat New South Wales by six wickets at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore. The pair added 141 off 66 balls for the second wicket to negate the Warner Blitzkrieg (123* off 68 balls) which helped the Australian team reach 203 from 20 overs.
Both Teams went into the match with the following line-ups.
Royal Challengers Bangalore : Daniel Vettori (Capt.), Mayank Agarwal, Sreenath Aravind, Arun Karthik (wk), Raju Bhatkal, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chris Gayle, Mohammad Kaif, Virat Kohli, Dirk Nannes, Saurabh Tiwary.
New South Wales: Simon Katich (Capt.), Stuart Clark, Pat Cummins, Moises Henriques, Steve O'Keefe, Daniel Smith, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner, BJ Rohrer, Shane Watson.
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss, elected to field and got off to a good start as Dilshan, who opened the bowling, got rid of Shane Watson , caught at Long on, top-edging an attempted pull in the third over.
Daniel Smith, in at no. 3, got off the mark with a blistering boundary straight down the ground. The pair of Warner and Smith scored 16 runs from the fourth over as Warner clobbered Nannes for a boundary over cover and a smashing six over midwicket.
12 runs were scored off the sixth over as Smith lofted Vettori for a boundary over Extra Cover and Warner followed it up with a six over midwicket. The pair added 35 runs from the next four overs as Warner reached his half-century from 40 deliveries.
The pair then took Aravind to the cleaners, scoring 20 runs from the 12th over. Warner started the over with a flat six over long on, scored a single off the next delivery and Smith added three boundaries off the next four balls to take NSW to 106/1 in the 12th over.
Smith deposited Bhatkal into the stands to bring up his half-century from 33 balls. The pair hit five sixes off the next three overs to take the score to 163/1 from 17 overs. Aravind finally broke the 146-run partnership in the next over when he cleaned up Smith for 62.
Smith's 42-ball innings included seven hits to the fence and three over it. Warner was just unstoppable as he clobbered Bhatkal for a six over covers and then brought up his century from just 62 deliveries. He finished off the innings in style, single-handedly smashing 23 runs off the final over from Aravind, including two sixes and two boundaries as NSW posted a humongous target of 204 in front of RCB. Warner remained unbeaten on 123 off 68 balls with six hits to the fence and eleven over it.
In reply, RCB got off to a lucky start as Dilshan was dropped at gully off the third ball of the innings. Gayle then took on the bowling, hitting consecutive boundaries off Starc, following it up with a well placed boundary through covers off Cummins.
Dilshan's luck finally ran out when he hit one straight to mid on in the same over. Gayle went on a rampage from then on as he hit Clark for a six and back-to-back fours and followed it up with two sixes and a four off the next over from Cummins.
The pair scored 22 runs from the fifth over. It was the turn of Kohli then got into the act, mauling Starc for four boundaries off the next over. Gayle brought up his half-century off just 20 balls with a six over deep mid wicket and a single behind square off O'Keefe. Gayle finished off the over in style with consecutive boundaries over mid wicket and third man.
The pair added 36 off the next four overs to bring down the equation to 80 from 54 deliveries. Kohli was handed a lifeline in the 12th over when he was dropped by Cummins on the sweeper cover boundary and he made him pay, bringing up his half-century from 28 balls and following it up with a six and a boundary off Warner.
The pair added 141 off 60 balls for the second wicket before Cummins finally removed Gayle for 92, trapped in front in the 14th over. Gayle's 41-ball innings included eight hits to the fence and eight over it.
Cummins cleaned up Saurabh Tiwary off the next delivery and then had Mayank Agarwal caught behind in his next over to bring NSW back into the match and reduce RCB to 172 for 4 in the 16th over. Cummins conceded just three runs off that over and Clark conceded just six in the next over to bring the equation to 24 from 18 balls.
Kohli made sure that there were no last ball thrillers in the making this time around as he demolished Starc for 14 runs off three balls to bring the equation down to 8 from 12. Kaif finished off the match with consecutive boundaries over long on and long off, winning the match by six wickets and nine balls to spare. Kohli remained unbeaten on 84 off 49 balls with ten hits to the fence and three over it.
Kohli was named the man of the match for his match winning innings of 84.
Scores: New South Wales: 203/2; Royal Challengers Bangalore: 204/4
Man of the Match: Virat Kohli
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