Anushka Sharma, at the Eden, on Saturday
Calcutta: After four years, Eden Gardens witnessed another 'Gaylestorm'. There's just no stopping Chris Gayle if he gets going. And it doesn't really matter if he's fit or not, or whether the opposition has gone into the game winning 10 matches on the trot.
Back in 2011, he had single-handedly demolished the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) with an unbeaten century. On this occasion, against a far more potent KKR attack, his 56-ball 96 was certainly a more valuable one. Riding his innings, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) began their IPL 8 campaign with a three-wicket win, with six balls remaining, at the Eden, on Saturday.
Morne Morkel must be cursing himself. He started off quite smartly, removing RCB captain Virat Kohli with a short one after being hit for a six. But he dropped Gayle at the deep during a crucial phase of the game when the left-hander was on 63, off the bowling of Yusuf Pathan. And if you give Gayle a reprieve when he's on song, only a miracle can help you win matches.
After prevailing over the usually-reliable Sunil Narine, who went for 17 in the 17th over, bringing the equation down to 14 off 12 balls, Gayle then deposited Morkel into the stands, launching him over long-on.
That blow was as good as winning the match for his team as RCB, from thereon, could only choke themselves to defeat. Gayle's run out thereafter was practically inconsequential. Precisely, when Gayle is in a mood to conquer, especially in the IPL, he makes sure he does.
KKR brought in 'mystery spinner' KC Cariappa in place of Umesh Yadav, but all the mystery vanished before Gayle and to an extent, AB de Villiers, even though the South Africa ODI captain was foxed by the youngster.
Thus, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma left the Eden with smiling faces.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa did turn on the heat, taking advantage of some sloppy work in the field by the opposition, as KKR raced to 46 without loss in the first five overs. The pitch seemed to be on the harder side, but Sean Abbott and Varun Aaron got their line wrong, particularly the Australian.
Getting carried away by the little bit of hardness that was there on the wicket, Abbott bowled too short, giving Gambhir (58) and Uthappa (35) enough room and width to chance their arms. The fielders didn't help RCB either, as there were two goof-ups in the very first over of the match.
That said, the Gambhir-Uthappa combination once again proved how important it is to set the foundation for an imposing total. While it was more about hitting through the line for the KKR captain - something reminiscent of the Gambhir at his peak - Uthappa's knock was based more on timing.
The RCB bowlers, however, did well to restrict the scoring rate, especially post the strategic time out. Assam's Abu Nechim Ahmed, having played a fair bit of cricket at the Eden, bowled the right length and was rewarded in the form of the wicket of Uthappa.
He should have had Gambhir too immediately after the strategic time out, if not for the lapse of De Villiers, who fluffed a straight-forward chance at deep square leg. Gambhir was on 31 then.
Bringing up his second consecutive half-century, the southpaw finally departed, holing out to deep mid-wicket off the bowling of Yuzvendra Chahal. Gambhir's wicket did not bring RCB any kind of relief whatsoever with Manish Pandey playing some super strokes, accompanied by the in-form Suryakumar Yadav.
But back-to-back dismissals of Suryakumar and Manish in the 17th over somewhat affected the rhythm before Andre Russell took it on himself to ensure that KKR finished with a flourish.
For Russell, it's just about clearing his front leg and bang... He powered KKR past 170, as Abu Nechim, Harshal Patel and Aaron had to bear the brunt of his brute force.
But in the end, that didn't prove to be enough.
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