Gayle’s Bangalore decimate Mumbai, storm into finals
The prime time Chris Gayle show was back on air today and at the end of it, Mumbai were dumped out of IPL-4 and Bangalore stormed into the finals to set a re-match of first qualifier game. The Jamaican tore apart the Mumbai attack with a thundering knock that knocked the stuffing out of the opposition. His 47 ball 89 propelled Bangalore to a formidable 185, although, Mumbai briefly were in the fray but fizzled out without a real fight, losing by 43 runs.
Chris Gayle was once again the star of the Bangalore innings with a sparkling knock and fell short of a third IPL-4 ton by just 11 runs. Bangalore after being put in got off to a dream start, courtesy an eventful first over bowled rookie pacer Abu Nechim. Sachin made a tactical error by not utilizing his best bowler Lasith Malinga first up. Five wides, a mis-field and a couple of clean hits by Gayle meant that Bangalore had 27 runs at the start of the second over. His opening partner, Mayank Agarwal played his part with some crisp shots in a match-winning opening partnership of 113 in less than 11 overs. The youngster hit 4 boundaries and couple of maximums in an enterprising innings of 41 runs.
The beauty of Gayle’s knock was that he did not try to hit everything out of the park, instead waited for a ball to be in his half after the initial fireworks had given them a head start. The ‘Orange Cap’ holder was very watchful against the biggest threat in the Mumbai attack, Slinger Malinga, though the batsmen made full use of two wayward deliveries in his first over. But, the Sri Lankan varied his pace in the next over as Gayle treated him with respect that is so rare to see. While the Gayle show was on, Mumbai faltered in the field, dropping couple of dollies, Malinga and Rohit Sharma were the culprits. The latter finally managed to hold on to one as Mayank was dismissed. Gayle was joined by Kohli, who tried to pass on the strike to the West Indian. Harbhajan came in for a dose of punishment as the ball disappeared twice in the fourteenth over.
Mumbai finally managed to stem the flow of runs with Gayle falling to Munaf; James Franklin completed a good catch running to his left at long-on. His dismissal when the score was 148 in the fifteenth over gave Mumbai an opportunity to claw back into the game. Bangalore could add only 37 runs in the next 5 overs, further amplifying the value of the Gayle Blitz.
The huge target of 185 was always going to be a tough ask for Mumbai on a deck where the scoring was difficult once the ball lost its shine. The innings began on a bright note as the openers took the attack to the Bangalore bowlers, four boundaries came in the first two overs. However, the tempo could not be maintained for long, Aiden Blizzard fell trying to slog the impressive Arvind for 10. Harbhajan was once again promoted up the order, he teed off with a leg side heave followed by a six off Mithun. The cameo came to an end in the next over, Arvind claimed his second scalp. In between, Sachin tried to salvage some pride with a couple of dazzling shots. The master blaster was foxed by left armer Syed Mohammad and his dismissal was the body blow to the chase. Thereon, the struggling Mumbai middle-order combusted under the pressure of asking rate. Skipper Vettorri bowled beautifully to stifle the run chase. The match was rendered one-sided at the end with Mumbai folding at just 142, just about summing up Mumbai’s stuttering journey in the later stages of this IPL.
© eContent.in
