Gayle and Kohli half-centuries in vain for beaten Bangalore
Monday 30 May 2016 10:27, UK
Half-centuries from Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli were not enough for Royal Challengers Bangalore as Sunrisers Hyderabad won their maiden IPL title with an eight-run win at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Gayle (76 from 38) and Kohli (54 from 35) put on 114 for the opening wicket after Bangalore were set a taxing 209 for victory on their home turf, but Royal Challengers ended on 200-7 as the Sunrisers attack, including Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who shipped just 25 runs from his four overs, fought back.
David Warner (69) shone again for Sunrisers with the bat, hitting his ninth half-century of a campaign in which he amassed 848 runs, while fellow Australian Ben Cutting cracked an unbeaten 39 from 15 balls - and a six out of the ground - as the first-time finalists lashed 52 from their last three overs.
Sunrisers looked up against it when Gayle, who walloped eight sixes, and Kohli were in full flow but their departures - Kohli ending 27 runs shy of 1,000 this season - and the cheap dismissals of AB de Villiers (five) and Shane Watson (11) ensured Bangalore have now lost each of their three IPL finals.
Warner elected to bat at Bangalore HQ and he and Shikhar Dhawan (28) motored towards the back-end of the powerplay, blasting Watson's fifth over for 19 and Gayle's sixth for 13 as they racked up an opening stand of 63.
Dhawan, who was dropped by Gayle off his own bowling in the second over, holed out to deep square fielder Chris Jordan, but Warner continued to flourish, reaching fifty from just 24 deliveries and clubbing Jordan's first two balls to the fence.
The Australian fell in the 14th over as Sunrisers began to lose wickets and momentum but Cutting's belligerence late on - the Brisbane-born star clouting three fours and four sixes - saw Warner's men post a formidable total.
Jordan (3-45), whose wickets included that of Yuvraj Singh (38), was expensive but Watson recorded the worst figures, Cutting's onslaught ensuring the Queenslander's four overs of medium pace went for a whopping 61.
Gayle kept the hard-hitting going as Bangalore began their reply, the Jamaican - who had reached double figures just twice this term prior to the final - creaming a 25-ball half-century and allowing Kohli to ease into his innings.
Gayle skewed Cutting (2-35) to third man in the 11th over but the crucial scalp proved to be Kohli, who inside-edged onto his stumps in the 13th - and trudged off furiously - having passed fifty for the 11th time in 16 innings this campaign.
Kohli's exit triggered a collapse of 4-24, a position RCB, beaten in the 2009 and 2011 finals by Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings respectively, were unable to come back from, the home side scoring just nine of the 18 runs they needed from Kumar's outstanding final over.
