BANGALORE, India, CMC – Chris Gayle smashed his fourth half-century in five innings but it was not enough to save Royal Challengers Bangalore from their second straight loss in the Indian Premier League yesterday. The left-hander carved out a typically robust 71 to help propel RCB to 158 for five off their 20 overs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. But Kings XI Punjab sneaked away with a last-over win, with Piyush Chawla smashing a six off the penultimate delivery of the game to seal a four-wicket win. Sent in to bat, RCB lost Mayank Agarwal (7) with the score on seven in the second over before Gayle and Virat Kohli put on 119 for the second wicket.
The big-hitting Gayle blasted six four and four sixes off just 42 balls while Kohli was more measured in his 45 off 42 balls, with three fours and two sixes. Gayle was dropped in the 13th over on 39 by David Miller running in from long off and made the Kings XI pay dearly for the missed chance, cracking two fours and a six off the same over from seamer Parvinder Awana that cost 19 runs.
He was eventually caught by Miller at square leg, top-edging a hook at pacer Azhar Mahmood in the 16th over. In Kings Punjab’s turn at the crease, Nitin Saini top-scored with an even fifty while Australian David Hussey got 45 and Mandeep Singh, 43. Gayle, at the centre of a protracted dispute with the West Indies Cricket Board, is the leading run-getter in the IPL with 407 runs.
