Adam Gilchrist hit his 2nd IPL century to take Kings XI winning march forward. They just need one more win to reach sweet 16, although that may not guarantee Knock Out place. The 63rd IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab turned out to be a run-feast.
Gilchrist Makes Merry, Kings XI Bat First
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, Gilchrist and Valthaty started aggressively. Gilly was shaky in the beginning. Valthaty scored 20 of the first 25 runs when he was out in 4th over. As Shaun Marsh joined the captain, the run flow started. Gilchrist reached devastating century hitting 9 sixes and 8 fours in his 2nd IPL century knock. After Gayle, he is the only player to score two centuries.
Gayle and Marsh Create World Record
Gayle and Marsh joined hand for a daunting task. They must set a total that was beyond the reach of Gayle. In the process they not only created a new IPL record but also a world record of partnership in T20 history around the world. They scored 206 runs in 16 overs they batted together. Gilchrist was out on the 5th ball of the last over.
RCB Bowlers Toil
The weak RCB bowling was exposed completely. The absence of Zaheer Khan made them look like club-class. Aravind has his few balls of glory specially in the first four balls of 19th over against Marsh where he gave only 1 run but otherwise RCB bowlers would like to forget the day as bad dream.
Gayle Fails, RCB Fails
Facing the tough target of 233 runs, Gayle started cautiously knowing the weight of hopes behind him. But, despite playing first over without runs against Praveen Kumar, in the second over Gilly caught him behind on the ball of Harris without letting him open his tally. Gayle went for nought, Kohli soon followed with just 11 runs. Only AB de Villiers with 34 runs of 27 balls tried to resist. But it was too tough for him to handle considering wickets kept falling from both the end.
Kings XI Bowlers Make Merry
As RCB batsmen made sweat of hard chase, Harris taking 3 wickets, Chawla taking 4 wickets and Shalabh Shrivastava continuing his consistent good run with 2 wickets, made merry.
Kings XI Sail through
Kings XI took revenge in the same way as they got defeated against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the first match, when Gayle century let RCB score their highest IPL score of 205 and Kings XI lost by 85 runs. Now, with Gilchrist’s second IPL century in the company of new Orange Cap holder Shaun Marsh, Kings XI scored not only their highest score but also the second highest score of IPL, 232 runs just behind CSK’s 240 runs total, the highest team score of IPL. In the end Kings XI won by 112 runs, another high record of winning in IPL. Their player performance is shining with bowlers making merry, although only top four batsmen are performing.
RCB Must Learn
Everyone knew that before Gayle RCB was no force. Kohli, the young captain refused that RCB is one man army. Their bowling was never impressive. In the end the high score let Gayle fail and with that RCB failed. They are already in the knockout, so nothing much to worry for them right now. In fact it is good wake up call for them. For knockout they should have reasons to plan better now. Their Player’s performance index show how they need better performances in bowling and batting, from other players.
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