May 12, 2012
Scorecard: 20 overs Royal Challengers Bangalore 173 for 3 (Gayle 57, Dilshan 53) beat Pune Warriors 138 for 9 (Vinay 3-32, Zaheer 2-21, Murali 2-16) by 35 runs
Vinay Kumar took three wickets to help Royal Challengers Bangalore to a comprehensive win against Pune Warriors
May 12, 2012
Scorecard: 20 overs Royal Challengers Bangalore 173 for 3 (Gayle 57, Dilshan 53) beat Pune Warriors 138 for 9 (Vinay 3-32, Zaheer 2-21, Murali 2-16) by 35 runs
Vinay Kumar took three wickets to help Royal Challengers Bangalore to a comprehensive win against Pune Warriors
The change of captain didn’t bring change in fortune for the Pune Warriors as they capitulated to one more humiliating defeat through the hands of Royal Challengers Bangalore by 35 runs in Pune on Friday. This is Pune’s seventh successive defeat of this season.
Chasing an above par target of 174, Pune were rocked early by Zaheer Khan. He trapped Mishra leg before and flattened Manish Pandey’s off stump with a ball that straightened in the first over. The wicket of Michael Clarke just few overs later and Pune were once again staring at yet another disappointing show with the bat.
Uthappa and Majumdar provided some impetus to the Pune innings by counter attacking. The former was severe on Harshal Patel hitting the pacer for four boundaries, including one six over the mid-wicket region, whereas, Majumdar used his feet well against Appanna peppering the cover region. The pair added 50 in just 28 balls before Uthappa 38 (23) got stumped off Murali halting Pune’s charge.
Then the wicket of Majumdar 31 (26) at wrong time and Murali giving only 16 runs in his four overs strengthened Bangalore’s grip on the game. The require rate had shot up to 14 with five overs to go, it was too much to ask from skipper Smith as Warriors succumbed to one more defeat.
Steven Smith was in the hot seat, trying to contain a powerful Royal Challengers line-up
Earlier, Pune made five changes to their playing eleven, including making Smith the skipper in place of Ganguly, who sat out of this one. Rain and wet outfield delayed the start of play by an hour, but thankfully no overs were lost. After rain it was the Gayle storm that hit Pune as rain drops were replaced by cricket balls.
Gayle, unlike his other innings this season, was prepared to go after the bowlers from the start. He warmed up by hitting young Upadhyay for a six over covers followed by one more over long on. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar paid a heavy price of bowling length balls to Gayle in the last over of the powerplay, as the big man effortlessly put four of those straight into the stands, bringing up his seventh half century of the season off just 24 balls.
To the huge relief of Pune, Gayle hold out trying to hit Mathews out of the park in the ninth over. Then the wicket of Kohli and few quiet overs from Pune brought Bangalore’s run rate below eight. However, Dilshan cut lose cutting Rahul Sharma for four before pulling a six in the same over spoiling the bowler’s figures. He then hit three more fours in the next over bowled by Upadhyay upping the ante for Bangalore. Dilshan got run out, but Surabh Tiwary got some boundaries away before AB De Villiers last ball six took Bangalore to 173.
