Chris Gayle

Eden Gardens: The Kolkata Knight Riders must be cursing the West Indies Cricket board for not selecting, the explosive Chris Gayle. Had he been selected, he would not be present today and the bowlers could have had a better match. Chris Gayle announced his return in great fashion, hammering the knight riders, scoring a ton off just 55 deliveries.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and elected to field first. Kallis and Haddin started off the Innings. The addition of Brad Haddin to the side strengthened the team. They started off in the best possible manner. The very 1st over bowled by Zaheer Khan produced 19 runs. Zaheer was wayward in his line and length and could not get the right pitching. The fast attack was not working for Daniel Vettori. The pacers gave away too many runs too early. This led the captain to turn to the spin department in the early stage, 3rd over of the innings. The young, Syed Mohammad was brought into the attack and it proved a wise move. Syed was bang on target from the very 1st over and succeeded in dismissing Haddin for 18. Then spin was introduced from both the ends and the run rate was brought under some control.

Gambhir, the Captain of KKR stepped in at the crease. He along with Kallis started to build up the innings and both started scoring briskly. Zaheer was once again brought into attack, but was hammered for 15 runs by Gambhir. It was not Zak’s day. Both looked settled and played some wonderful shots and kept the run score ticking quickly. The experienced Vettori got the better of Kallis in the 13th over. Kallis got out for a well made 50. The dangerous Yusuf Pathan stepped in and along with the Captain, started punishing the bowling attack.

Gambhir looked in fine touch before he fell to Aravind in the 17th over, scoring a well made 48. Pathan was as usual in his approach, hitting the ball out of the park. Soon, he too perished in the 19 over, scoring a blistering 46 of just 24 deliveries. The Kolkata managed to pile up a very decent total of 171 in their 20 overs. The Challengers had some work to do.

Chris Gayle was back in IPL, and the Kolkata team was wary of how dangerous he can be. Gayle and Dilshan started the proceedings. The Two, being one of the most deadly combination in this IPL. Gayle announced his return in the most explosive manner. He was harsh on each and every bowler. There was no stopping him. He did not give the bowlers the time to settle. He was brutal in his approach. The Kolkata team was mere spectators watching almost every ball sailing over the boundary rope. The sixes were huge, 107 meters, the highest by any batsmen in IPL.

Dilshan supported Gayle, and played sensible cricket by just taking singles and giving the strike to his explosive partner. The bowling attack was clueless. Almost all deliveries, even the good ones were punished by Gayle. They maintain a healthy run rate of more than 10 runs per over. Dilshan perished in the 12th over to Balaji, scoring 38 runs. But the damage had already been done. Virat Kohli stepped in. But, Gayle showed no mercy and was thrashing the bowlers all around.

The match was over at a very early stage around the 13-14th over. Kohli too played some wonderful cricketing shots. Gayle was approaching his century, when some funny moments took place. Kohli running to Gayle on several occasions, probably talking about getting Gayle’s century. Kohli was only interested in taking singles, helping his partner to reach the milestone. In the 17th over, Abdulla was in attack and 6 runs were needed for Victory. Gayle needed 2 runs to reach his ton. Abdulla bowled an absurd delivery and Kohli struck it for a four, and he was disgusted with himself for doing that. 2 runs were needed when Abdulla bowled a wide delivery, which left Kohli furious. Kohli defended the rest of the deliveries. The very 1st delivery of the 18th over, Gayle punched the ball through the covers and got to his century. Bangalore chased the total of 171 in 18.1 overs.

This win was very important for the Bangalore team to boost their morale and confidence. Gayle addition to the team has now strengthened the batting area. On the other hand, Kolkata was handed their 2nd defeat in a row and now they need to re-organize themselves and do a lot of thinking before going into their next game.

Tags: Chris Gayle, Cricket, Eden Gardens, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, RCB, Royal Challengers Bangalore