Fri, 22 Apr 2011 - IP Kolkata vs IP Bangalore, IPL 2011, 24th Match - Bulletin

Gayle hurricane hundred sinks Kolkata

Some people are born to entertain and Chris Gayle is certainly one of them. For a player of Gayle’s caliber whose hitting abilities make him an automated choice for this format not to be picked by any franchise in the auction was very strange and what made things worse he was left from West Indies ODI team as well.

Amid controversies back home, he was finally signed by Bangalore to replace injured Dirk Nannes, and Gayle announced himself with one of the best in this format. And, he made a point or two to the franchises what they missed by opting not to pick him.With target of 172, Kolkata would have thought game was theirs but Gayle’s super ton made a formidable total to look paltry.The target was achieved with 11 balls to spare and at the loss of one wicket only clearly indicating how dominating Gayle was with the bat.

Gayle, opening with another swashbuckling batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, was in the murderous mood making mockery of Kolkata attacked as sixes and fours rained at Eden Gardens. At no point, during the Gayle tornado, Kolkata bowlers could tie him down as Gayle cleared the boundaries without much of a fuss making home team bowling lineup look like an ordinary one.

Pace or spin from Kolkata whosoever bowled him was given the same treatment as he blasted his way to a 55-ball century hitting ten fours and as many as seven towering sixes including the biggest in the tournament that landed way back into the stands measuring 104 meters.For Gayle it was a case hitting almost everything from the middle and even those mistimed yielded big runs as explosive openers sends a strong message to other teams.

Such was the impact of Gayle innings that even batsman like Dilshan was forced to play second fiddle as new Sri Lankan skipper hit half a dozen boundaries in his 38 coming off 31 balls. The pair put on 123 in 12 overs to virtually shut Kolkata chances of winning the game.

Once Dilshan was castled by Laxmipathy Balaji, Virat Kohli supported Gayle to do the formalities as youngster continued his good form with the bat to remain undefeated on a 23-ball 30.

Kolkata batted brilliantly though to put up a formidable first inning total after they were sent to have first use of the pitch by Daniel Vettori.Kolkata started off in aggressive fashion as Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir laid a strong launchpad for Yusuf Pathan who played his best innings of the season to power the side to 171.

Zaheer Khan who was very poor with the ball giving away 53 runs in his four overs was carted for 15 in the first over of the innings as Kallis and Brad Haddin were off to a flying start. The introduction of debutant left arm spinner Syed Mohammad slowed things down as he snaffled Haddin in his first over.Senior batsmen Gambhir and Kallis then steadied things with 56 runs but came at a slow rate than Kolkata would have liked as South African all rounder consumed 42 balls for his 40. With things slowing down, Yusuf Pathan was promoted to number four as he wasted no time to hit some lusty blows while Gambhir kept on playing some trademark strokes on his way to a 38-ball 48.

Pathan cleared the boundary easily hitting three big sixes and as many fours to give innings much needed impetus and late charge as got out in last over of the innings but not before slamming 24 ball 46.

Syed Mohammad was the best bowler of the match as gave away only 20 runs in his four overs in what was a high scoring game.