Gayle Storm leaves Punjab Stunned in IPL 5

KXIP-163/6 (20)

Hussey-41 (34)
Mahmood-33* (14)
Zaheer-2/25

RCB-166/5 (19.3)

Gayle-87 (56)
De Villiers-52 (39)
Awana-4/34

Man of the Match-CHRIS GAYLE

                         

 The home team was at the receiving end of a fabulous display of batting by Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers. RCB had won the toss and decided to bowl on a pitch which had some grass on it. Gilchrist was out of the game due to a hamstring injury and David Hussey was leading the Kings XI Punjab in his absence. Put into bat first, Punjab got off to a poor start as both the openers Saini and Valthaty were finding it difficult to score against Zaheer and Vinay. Zaheer was rewarded for maintaining a good line and length and he dismissed both the Punjab openers in his first spell. Marsh and Hussey took on the responsibility and stated piling on the runs. Just as Marsh was looking threatening, his stumps were rattled by McDonald. Hussey was striking the ball pretty well and he reached 40 in no time. Hussey's innings ended on 41 as he chopped one onto the stumps off Harshal Patel. Azhar Mahmood was playing his first IPL game and he didn't disappoint too. He gave the Punjab innings the much needed momentum and scored a quick fire 33 not out of just 14 balls. Late flourishes by Mandeep Sing and Piyush Chawla helped Punjab to reach 163/6 in the 20 overs. Punjab gathered 74 crucial runs in the last 7 overs and ended the innings on a high.

The target was not a big one and with the batting line up that RCB has got, everyone backed them to get the runs. But young Parvinder Awana had some other ideas as he struck 3 early blows to leave RCB reeling at 25/3 in 5.1 overs. The dangerous duo of Gayle and de Villiers was at the crease and they played just as the situation demanded.Gayle was playing cautiously in the first half of the innings and reached his 50 in 41 balls, which is somewhat slow by his standards. A.B contined his good form and hit boundaries at will. After his 50, Gayle got into his own and destroyed the weak Punjab attack. Gayle and de Villiers put on the highest partnership of this season as they added 131 for the 4th wicket. It required a splendid effort by Hussey in the covers to get rid of Gayle, taking a splendid catch. A.B was the next to go but till then the damage had been done. McDonald finished the game by driving a half volley through the covers for 4. It was a clinical performance by RCB, who registered their 3rd win of the season. Punjab really need to pull up their socks to reach the play-offs. Here are the scores of this match: