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Punjab end Bangalore's streak

Marauding Gilchrist slams 55-ball 106 as Royal Challengers suffer first loss in eight matches
Last Updated 17 May 2011, 18:15 IST

Little pockets of the Royal Challengers’ fans at the venue didn’t have much to celebrate as Kings XI Punjab ended the visitors’ seven-match winning streak in spectacular fashion. Skipper Gilchrist (106, 55b, 8x4, 9x6) and Shaun Marsh shared a breathtaking 206-run alliance for the second wicket after electing to bat, propelling Kings XI to an imposing 232 for two. The home side then restricted the Royal Challengers to 121 to celebrate a massive 111-run win.

Gilchrist was simply immense. Till now, the former Australian batsman has been able to fire only in isolation, but the New South Welshman put behind those stuttering efforts to unleash a vintage innings on the day. The left-hander was quick to judge the length before producing those trademark short-arm pulls and lofted drives over the cover field.
It was quite tough to believe Gilchrist has retired some four years ago as his timing was impeccable and after a brief struggle to middle the ball in the first few overs the southpaw played an innings of rare quality. To be more precise, Gilchrist didn’t explode until the seventh over, allowing his partner Paul Valthaty to take the initial charge. But Abhimanyu Mithun’s over changed the entire scenario. The Karnataka pacer dropped the ball a tad short, giving the Australian an opportunity to showcase the swivel pull and from that point onwards Gilchrist was at his entertaining best.

Full fury
Pacer Charl Langeveldt had to suffer the full fury of Gilchrist tornado, getting clobbered for three sixes in a row in his third over. It was like watching the footage of one of those Gilchrist specials in his pomp. Such an innings can quite easily be taken for brutal clubbing as we often see in the Twenty20, but Gilchrist’s innings was a perfect blend of skill, power and classic beauty.

However, it was not a one-horse race as Marsh continued his good form in the IPL IV with a bruising knock (79 n.o., 49b, 7x4, 5x6) at the other end as Bangalore failed to put a brake on scoring. Marsh’s pick of the day was another South African pacer Johan Van der Wath, smacking him for 30 runs in the bowler’s third over and the sequence read 6,6,4,4,4,6.

The double barrel firing spurred Kings XI, who were languishing at 30 for one  after the six Power Play overs, to the third highest total in the IPL history. Gilchrist brought up his second IPL hundred, creaming Langeveldt through covers and his dismissal in the penultimate ball of the Kings XI innings not even offered a token comfort for the Royal Challengers.

The onslaught left Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli scratching his head, but he couldn’t find any preventive measures. His worries were soon to be increased as Kings XI bowlers came up with a tidy effort. Bangalore received the big blow in the ninth ball of their innings when Chris Gayle returned to the hut.

It was imperative for the West Indian to fire if Bangalore were to make a fist of the chase, but the left-hander chased a wide delivery from Ryan Harris for Gilchrist to complete a fine diving catch. Kohli and Saurabh Tiwary didn’t last long as Bangalore lost their top five for a mere 72, and they soon resigned to their fate. Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla hastened the end, grabbing four wickets for 17 runs as Bangalore failed to last full 20 overs.

Before Gilchrist took the centre stage, drizzle of varying intensity threatened to spoil the match, but the violent beauty of Gilchrist’s innings was so enchanting that even the elements forgot to interfere.

SCORE BOARD

Kings XI Punjab: Paul Valthaty c Tiwary b Langeveldt 20 (17b, 2x4, 1x6), Adam Gilchrist c Gayle b Langeveldt 106 (55b, 8x4, 9x6), Shaun Marsh (not out) 79 (49b, 7x4, 5x6), David Hussey (not out) 0 (1b). Extras (LB-7, LB-14, W-4, NB-2) 27. Total (for 2 wkts, 20 overs) 232.
Fall of wickets: 1-25 (Valthaty), 2-231 (Gilchrist).
Bowling: Johan van der Wath 4-0-50-0, Charl Langeveldt 4-0-48-2 (w-3), Chris Gayle 4-0-35-0, S Arvind 4-0-36-0, A Mithun 3-0-29-0 (nb-2), Virat Kohli 1-0-13-0 (w-1).
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 29/1; 10: 99/1; 15: 173/1; End of Innings: 232/2 in 20 overs.
Power Play: 1-6 overs: 30/1.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Chris Gayle c Gilchrist b Harris 0 (7b), Saurabh Tiwary c Hussey b Srivastava 6 (11b, 1x4), Virat Kohli c Karthik b Harris 11 (11b, 2x4), AB de Villiers c Gilchrist b Chawla 34 (27b, 3x4, 1x6), Asad Pathan c Hussey b Valthaty 7 (4b, 1x6), Mohammad Kaif st Gilchrist b Chawla 15 (11b, 3x4), KB Arun Karthik b Chawla 6 (6b, 1x4), Johan van der Wath lbw Chawla 4 (5b), A Mithun c Hussey b Harris 10 (7b, 1x6), Charl Langeveldt b Srivastava 8 (8b, 1x6), S Arvind (not out) 11 (5b, 2x4). Extras (B-4, LB-1, W-4) 9. Total (all out, 17 overs) 121.
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Gayle), 2-17 (Kohli), 3-34 (Tiwary), 4-43 (Asad), 5-72 (Kaif), 6-88 (Karthik), 7-89 (De Villiers), 8-95 (Van der Wath), 9-103 (Mithun).
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 3-1-11-0, Ryan Harris 3-0-28-3 (w-4), Shalabh Srivastva 3-0-30-2, Paul Valthaty 4-0-30-1, Piyush Chawla 4-0-17-4.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 27/2; 10: 69/4; 15: 97/8; End of Innings: 121 all out in 17 overs.
Power Play: 1-6 overs: 34/3.
 

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(Published 17 May 2011, 13:34 IST)

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