Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets to go top of the Indian Premier League on Saturday, as rivals Mumbai Indians slumped to a shock 10-run defeat by Deccan Chargers.
West Indies opener Chris Gayle smashed 34 in his first 10 balls to set up the Royal Challengers’ victory over in a rain-affected match. The left-hander, who was out for 38, hit four boundaries in Brett Lee’s opening over and smashed Jaidev Unadkat for two straight sixes and a four in the next over.
Royal Challengers chased down the revised Duckworth/Lewis target of 102 with three balls to spare, finishing at 105-6 in 12.3 overs.
The match was reduced to 13 overs after rain temporarily suspended play with Knight Riders — who lost the toss — on 69-3 after 11 overs, having recovered from 30-3.
Yusuf Pathan hit 36 to guide Knight Riders to 89-4 in 13 overs.
It was Royal Challengers’ seventh straight victory and the team moved to the top of the IPL table with 17 points, after Mumbai Indians’ defeat at the hands of Deccan Chargers later on Saturday.
Knight Riders remains in fourth place with 14 points, still in contention for the four-team play-offs.
Its top order started to collapse when Indian pacer Zaheer Khan had England’s Eoin Morgan caught at square leg for two runs. South African Charl Langeveldt dismissed Jacques Kallis — caught behind for 17 — and pacer Sreenath Aravind had Gautam Gambhir caught at point for seven.
Pathan hit three sixes and two fours before being caught by Abhimanyu Mithun off Langeveldt in the last over.
Gayle, who hit a match-winning century in the season’s first meeting between the teams, fell to Lee after top-edging an attempted slog to Kallis at mid-wicket.
Kallis subsequently dismissed Luke Pomersbach for 16 and skipper Virat Kohli for 15.
South African AB de Villiers remained undefeated on 13 to guide Royal Challengers to victory despite the team losing Mohammad Kaif (15), Arun Karthik (1) and Saurabh Tiwary (1) in the space of 11 balls in a tight finish.
Chargers, who opted to bat, however, took 23 off the final over, bowled by pacer Munaf Patel, with tail-ender Amit Mishra smashing four successive fours.
In the late match, Mumbai Indians lost wickets in quick succession during the run chase despite a dogged 37 by opener Sachin Tendulkar after pacer Ishant Sharma struck twice early.
Medium-pace bowler Anand Rajan took three for 27, including the wicket of Tendulkar, to wreck the middle order.
“Yes, this is disheartening,” Tendulkar said. “I thought we had controlled the game till the 19th over of the Deccan innings. Too many dot balls in the batting as well.”
On Sunday, Kings XI Punjab play Delhi Daredevils and Kochi Tuskers Kerala take on Rajasthan Royals. – Sapa-AP