Gayle force blows away Punjab
Just when you thought that IPL-4 was running out of steam, two of cricket’s cleanest hitters have brought it alive in a span of two days with two brutal centuries. First Virender Sehwag hit a beauty yesterday, now, Chris Gayle’s blistering hundred that was full monstrous hits and nearly killed one or two in the crowd, blew away Punjab to keep his team’s Juggernaut going. It certainly was a Gayle show as he picked up three wickets in addition to the 107 runs to send Punjab packing by a colossal margin of 85 runs. Riding on the Gayle wave, Bangalore have now broken into the top four with 11 points after nine games.Ever since Chris Gayle has come into Bangalore, the team has remained undefeated and the way he is playing the chances of a defeat in near future seem minimal. He just can’t do anything wrong.
Due to the Gayle blitzkrieg, Bangalore finished with 205 to set a daunting chase for Punjab.
Punjab’s only chance in the chase was to start strongly but the slump started from the very first ball. Adam Gilchrist pushed a ball to mid-off, called for a suicidal single and was caught short of his ground with a direct hit from the fielder. From there onwards, Paul Valthaty tried to hit some shots but the target was too much on a bowler friendly wicket.
For Bangalore, Arvind took four wickets and Gayle starred with the ball as well grabbing three scalps including that of Valthaty. The home captain, Vettori was impressive with an economical spell of four overs for 14 runs. The batting had done enough to give their bowlers confidence as Punjab managed only 120 runs losing nine wickets in the process.
At the start, however, the pitch at the Chinnaswamy stadium had a tinge of grass and Punjab skipper Adam Gilchrist had no hesitation in opting to field. In the first few overs, the Bangalore openers played and missed a few times as the pitch had some help for the faster bowlers. Tilkeratne Dilshan hit a couple of neat boundaries before the Gayle began to cut loose. Ryan Harris was clobbered for two huge hits and the fourth over cost 21 runs. After that, the punishment got severe with each over for the Punjab bowlers.
It was raining sixes and fours at the Bangalore Stadium and the crowd had a field day watching the balls disappear into the night sky, one after other.In all, the left-hander hit 10 boundaries and 9 gigantic sixes; one even went out of the stadium. Virat Kohli played second fiddle to Gayle in a 111 run partnership managing only 27 runs. Gayle finally departed after he had inflicted enough damage on the bowlers that a comeback was just not possible.
Gayle became the first man to score two centuries in the same IPL, all that in a matter of four innings. His merciless hitting left the hapless Punjab bowlers and fielders confused and in a state of shock. No Punjab bowler had an economy rate below nine as everybody got the treatment from destroyer Gayle. Although Ryan Harris picked up three cheap wickets at the death when the Bangalore batsmen were going for everything, this consolation would be too little for a team that just were hit by a calamity in the shape of Gayle.
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