Sun, 08 May 2011 - IP Bangalore vs IP Kochi, IPL 2011, 50th Match - Bulletin

Bangalore storm their way to third place

With the Chris Gayle engine powering it, Bangalore juggernaut continued to roll bulldozing Kochi by a massive margin of 9-wickets at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. The home batsmen made short-work of the paltry total of 125 runs Kochi managed to put on the board batting on a decent track. It was Bangalore’s fifth successive win after a string of loses and they climbed to the third spot on the league standings.

The Chinnaswamy stadium once again came under attack from monstrous hitting by Chris Gayle; the crowd running for cover with balls landing in the stands like guided missiles. Dilshan has watched the Gayle show go on from the non-strikers end for a long time and he decided to join the party smashing a few into the stands. Poor Parameswaran was blasted for 37 runs in one over by the ‘marauder’ Gayle, three boundaries and four maximums came in that fateful over with a no-ball making matters worse for the fielding team.

A packed Bangalore stadium roared every-time the home openers swung their bat and the ball disappeared in some corner of the ground. Gayle’s dismissal, however, was against the run of play when a Vinay Kumar slinger sneaked below the bat and crashed into the off stump. His whirlwind 44 runs taking only 16 deliveries, 5 crowd-killers part of the package.

Dilshan regained his lost touch and clobbered the hapless Kochi bowlers all around the park. He remained unbeaten on 52 runs off 31 balls, Virat Kohli also sharing the booty with 27 runs. Bangalore by way of their dominating batting are looking invincible and unbeatable. The other teams surely need to get their act together to stop the Gayle storm from overrunning them.

The Kochi captain, Mahela Jayawardene at the toss said that they had a plan to neutralize Gayle but, they seemed to have forgotten their batting plans in the process. The overall batting effort barring the first eight overs was a struggle. Openers Brendon McCullum and Klinger gave the visitors a brisk start, the former hitting some powerful shots before being dismissed for 22 runs by his Kiwi teammate and Bangalore captain, Daniel Vettori.

At the end of eight overs, Kochi were on their way to a big total, 64 runs for loss of 1 wicket. The weak Kochi batting was exposed by the brilliant bowling of Bangalore skipper, Vettori. His counterpart, Jayawardene was the hope for Kochi for a big score after the double strike had slowed them down. But, the Kiwi left armer bowled a faster one and Mahela could only manage a tickle to the Keeper, AB de Villiers taking a clean catch.

AB was soon as in action as he produced unbelievable athleticism to run out Parthiv Patel for 19 runs. The Kochi batsmen lost the plot in the death overs, not a single boundary came in the last four overs. Ravindra Jadeja, however, tried to add some impetus to the total but failed to produce anything dramatic.Bangalore bowlers like their batsmen were top of their game, rarely giving anything away. The fielding was also top-notch; a good number of runs were prevented by the diving fielders.

The Bangalore team is fast transforming into an explosive unit capable of overcoming any team in the IPL.