Gayle storms RCB to opening IPL win

Chris Gayle just missed his fifth IPL century but his 56-ball 96 was enough to guide the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a nail-biting victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in their first game of the season.

Chasing 178 to win, Bangalore lost regular wickets but the presence of Gayle at the crease through most part of the chase kept their hopes alive.

What also helped was a mid-innings cameo from AB de Villiers, which came just as the required-rate looked to be climbing to an unmanageable level. The South African was out for 28 from 13 balls, an innings that allowed Gayle a bit more time at the crease before forcing him to take any unwarranted risks.

Gayle was out in the 19th over to give his team a few anxious moments, but Bangalore sealed the victory with six balls to spare.

On a drier Eden Gardens pitch than earlier in the week, Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir brought in mystery spinner KC Cariappa for Umesh Yadav, joining the ranks of four other slow bowlers in the team.

Bangalore opted for a different approach altogether; Yuzvendra Chahal was the only slow bowler in their line-up alongside five medium-pacers.

Deciding to chase after winning the toss, the Royal Challengers made a horrendous start on the field.

Two misfields resulted in fours, allowing both Robin Uthappa and Gambhir to open their accounts, while a wild throw from mid-on got them an overthrow with Sydney Sixers speedster and IPL debutant Sean Abbott the unlucky bowler. Abbott would go on to concede 22 in his first, two-over spell.

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Sean Abbott made his IPL debut // BCCI

Bangalore seemed to try and restrict Gambhir by bowling short on the leg side in a bid to cramp him for room, and as a result the slips were taken out quite early.

It was an unusual tactic given Gambhir's propensity to nick quick bowlers to slips when not set. It has been an issue that has haunted him at the international level, and he had been dropped by the keeper Aditya Tare playing that very dab in their opening game against Mumbai.

The tactic didn't work early on, with at least one boundary leaked every over of the Powerplay as the left-right combination handled the bowling well as Kolkata ended the Powerplay at 0-53.

It was in the eighth over that Gambhir finally looked to have fallen prey to the leg-side tactic, as he attempted to pull a bouncer from Abu Nechim into the stands. He mistimed it and offered a straightforward chance, but it was incredibly spilled by de Villiers at deep square-leg.

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De Villiers inexplicably drops a catch on the boundary // BCCI

The end of the Powerplay overs and the introduction of leg-spinner Chahal slowed Kolkata down. Just 24 runs were scored between the sixth and 10th overs and an attempt to lift the run rate saw Uthappa mistime a slap straight down the throat of the long-on fielder.

Gambhir went on to reach his second consecutive 50 and his 25th in IPL cricket, the first man to achieve the milestone. Soon after that, however, he was gone trying to up the ante off Chahal.

Abbott was recalled into the attack immediately after Gambhir’s dismissal but Manish Pandey and Suryakumar Yadav collared him for a further 14 runs, ending his bowling night with figures of 0-36 from three overs.

The Indian pair looked to have put themselves into a position from where they could launch an assault and while they both fell in successive deliveries in the 17th over, it gave Andre Russell enough time to play a handy cameo.

Coming in at No.6, the West Indian got off the mark with an edge through the slips before crunching two shots back past a cramping Nechim in the next over. One went for a four, the other landed in the crowd behind the bowler.

Russell followed up with 14 from the 19th over off Patel and another 14 from Aaron’s final over to propel the total up to 177 after they were 4-131 in the 17th over.

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Andre Russell hits out late in the innings // BCCI

In reply, Kohli decided to opening the innings with Gayle but that aggressive move didn't pay off as he was bounced out by Morne Morkel. However, that was not before the Bangalore captain had had time to disdainfully smack the quick bowler over square-leg for a six. 

Gayle took some time to get going, as he usually prefers to do in the limited overs format, but he cut loose following the introduction of debutant Cariappa, who cost AUD $480,000 at the auction.

Gambhir brought him on within the Powerplay restrictions and Gayle welcomed the mystery spinner with a six and a four in his first over. He was immediately taken off and replaced by Yusuf Pathan.

Pathan, who did not bowl a single over against Mumbai and bowled just one over last season, struck immediately.

Dinesh Karthik was bowled from the first ball he faced from Pathan as he tried to cut one against the spin, before Mandeep Singh smacked a six and then lost his leg stump attempting a reverse sweep.

In a matter of minutes, the game had changed around again as Bangalore slumped to 3-56 in eight overs.  

The flurry of wickets brought de Villiers to the crease early enough to create an impression on the chase. And for a while, it looked like he was going to win it for Bangalore on his own. 

He got going with a boundary off Russell, and then smacked Pathan for a six over mid-wicket in the next over. Gambhir brought Cariappa back into the attack and what followed was one of the plays of the innings.

Not wanting to hand the initiative back to Kolkata, de Villiers decided to take on Cariappa. There was a beautifully carved inside-out strike that got him a four, and he then drove another through the covers for a second boundary in the same over. 

Sensing that the debutant was a tad rattled, de Villiers blasted the next ball over long-on for a six to make it 16 from the over. Still not satisfied, the South African came down the track but Cariappa sent it in quicker to beat the bat, and keeper Uthappa completed an easy stumping.

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De Villiers is stumped after a quick cameo // BCCI

Wickets continued to fall as Darren Sammy didn't last long and Abbott sacrificed himself going for the second run that would keep Gayle on strike. Gayle was also dropped by Morkel for the second time in the night and that would ultimately seal the deal.

Left with no option at that stage given the mounting run rate, Gayle smacked two more sixes in the 17th over from Shakib Al Hasan to leave 31 required from three overs with four wickets still standing.

Star spinner Sunil Narine was Kolkata’s last hope but by then Gayle had had the measure of his fellow West Indian. A couple of fours followed before No.8 Harshal Patel banished the last ball of that over for a straight six.

Gayle ran himself out in the penultimate over in a bid to regain strike after Pandey first saved a six and recovered quickly to throw it back at the striker’s end, but with just seven needed by then, the pair of Harshal and Nechim completed the victory in the same over.