Bangalore, Apr 17: Phenomenal hitting by Chris Gayle and a brilliant batting at the rear by AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwary capped a fantastic chase by Royal Challengers Bangalore as they beat Pune Warriors by six wickets in an IPL match here today.
Chasing a target of 183, RCB's Saurabh Tiwary (36 no, 23 balls, 1x4, 2x6) smashed Ashish Nehra for a big straight six while they needed three to win. Not to forget AB de Villiers (33 no, 14 balls, 2x4, 3x6) who smashed Nehra for two innovative sixes—a reverse sweep and a scoop over deep fine leg as the Men in Red needed 21 runs off the last over.
The chase was however started by Chris Gayle who hit eight towering sixes enroute his 48-ball 81.
Nehra who gave away 54 runs in four overs was hit for as many as half a dozen of sixes and could well be his last match in the IPL. The India discard who was one of India's finest bowler at the death seems to have lost that magic. Nehra completely undid the good work done by Ashok Dinda who gave away only six runs in the penultimate over.
At halfway stage during their chase RCB were 63 for two with Gayle at the crease. Although Gayle hit couple of huge sixes off Ashish Nehra, he wasn't at his dangerous best as he failed to find the gaps. Kohli too was taking time to get into the groove. Credit should be given to Bhuveneshwar Kumar who bowled three tight overs during the front 10.
It was only after Kohli was dismissed by Angelo Mathews that Gayle decided to play his signature game.
Leg-spinner Rahul Sharma bore the brunt as Gayle launched into him hitting five consecutive sixes as 31 runs came off that over and RCB seemed to be back on track.
