Gayle set up the game for RCB nail Pune in a thriller

IPL 2012

MATCH: RCB VS PUNE WARRIORS

TOSS: Pune won the toss, and elected to bat first

RESULT: Bangalore won by 6 wkts

MOM: Chris Gayle

Needing 21 off the last over, Tiwary took a single on the first delivery of Ashish Nehra to give strike to de Villiers.  The South African then smashed the second ball for a boundary and followed it by two consecutive sixes to make things easier for Bangalore.

With four required of last two balls, Villiers took a single off the fifth ball to bring Tiwary back on strike. The southpaw didn't let pressure mount on him and sailed the final delivery into the crowd over the rope to finish the game for Bangalore on style.

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.

Virat 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.

Gayle raced to 81 off 47 balls as he hit Ashish Nehra to notch up his eighth six but the veteran seamer bowled a perfect delivery in the blockhole that cleaned up Gayle. The Jamaican had scored 81 off 48 balls with four boundaries and eight sixes.

He smashed five sixes in an over from Rahul Sharma just after reaching his half-ton.

Ashok Dinda gave Pune first breakthrough by scalping Tilakaratne Dilshan (4) after Pune Warriors scored a massive 182/6 at the M Chinnaswamy stadium.  Dilshan was caught behind stumps while trying to flick Dinda on leg side. Marlon Samuels then dismissed Mayank Agarwal (9) to give Bangalore second blow at the score of 42 in six overs.

royal-challengers-bangalore win over PWI

royal-challengers-bangalore win over PWI

Earlier, local boy Robin Uthappa's belligerent knock of 69 along with useful contributions from Jesse Ryder and Marlon Samuels helped Pune Warriors India set a challenging 183 for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Pune openers Jesse Ryders and Robin Uthappa got off to a cracking start adding 63 runs for the first wicket in only seven overs. The Royals introduced offie Tillekratne Dilshan in the second over where he was hammered for 13 runs which included a six and four.

Ryder started from where he left in the last match against CSK while Uthappa showed why he is so highly rated in this format.

Just when it looked that Ryder-Uthappa duo would murder the bowling, Harshal Patel provided RCB the breakthrough as Kiwi opener tried to pull him over lbackward square leg only to be caught by Mayank Agarwal at the boundary.

Uthappa had a reprieve when he tried to sweep left-arm spinner KP Appanna and TV replays showed that ball jumped off his gloves to be caught by AB de Villiers. The umpire however gave him not out and the next ball was dispatched into the deep mid-wicket stand.

The Karnataka lad quickly raced to his fourth IPL half century reverse sweeping Dilshan past short third-man for his second consecutive boundary. His 50 had seven fours and two sixes and came off only 34 balls. The Warriors reached 100 in the 11th over.

RCB responded with two quick wickets in two overs. R Vinay Kumar first picked up an woefully out-of-form Sourav Ganguly whose slash was easily caught at sweeper cover by Mayank Agarwal and in the next over Vettori sent back Uthappa 69 (45 balls 4x9 6x2).

Marlon Samuels (34, 20 balls, 1x4, 2x6) and Steven Smith (16) added 47 runs in only 4.5 overs before couple run-outs saw the back of both players. Especially Samuels who looked in fine touch and Warriors looked like having finished 15 runs short in the end.

RCB made three changes inducting Dilshan, KP Apanna and Harshal Patel in place of Muttiah Muralitharan, Mohammad Kaif and Sreenath Aravind, who all played last game against Rajasthan Royals. PWI brought in pacer Bhuvaneshwar Kumar replacing orthodox left-arm spinner Murali Kartik.

Pune Warriors India pull victory from Chennai super kings

Pune Warriors India pull victory from Chennai super kings

Match 16

TOSS: Chennai Super Kings won the toss, and elected to bat first

RESULT: Pune won by 7 wkts

The Dada v Dhoni duel ended with the Pune Warriors India winning their second consecutive match at their home ground by seven wickets. Powered by Jesse Ryder’s unbeaten 73 and a 44-run cameo by Steven Smith PWI are back on top of the IPL 2012 table. 

Pune Warriors India

Jesse Ryder came well when it mattered most slamming an unbeaten 56-ball 73, as Pune Warriors stunned defending champions Chennai Super Kings by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League, on Saturday.

Steven Smith was equally brilliant as he smashed 44 off just 22 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes. Chasing 156 for victory, the Warriors needed 34 off the last three overs. Smith carted Dwayne Bravo for a six and a four to bring the equation down to 22 off 12.

Murali Vijay’s poor run in IPL 2012 continued as the opener departed after contributing just eight runs to the 43-run first wicket stand. The batsman flicked Ashok Dinda to Angelo Mathews at deep square-leg. In contrast to Vijay, his opening partner, Francois du Plessis picked up from where he had left off in the previous innings. The South African all-rounder, who hit two sixes and four boundaries, batted with ease until Rahul Sharma had him stumped. Although he missed out on a half-century, du Plessis claimed the Orange Cap thanks to his 33-ball 43, which took his overall tally to 171 runs. 

Ryder then launched into Nuwan Kulasekara as he pulled and cut the medium pacer for two fours on either side of the wicket. Requiring 10 in the final over, the Warriors cantered home with four balls to spare after Smith hit a four and a six over cover off Yo Mahesh.

Ryder hit seven fours and a six during his stay at the wicket. Robin Uthappa started the chase in earnest, pulling Albie Morkel for a six over mid-wicket in the second over.

But the Karnataka batsman could not sustain the initial momentum as he was run out by Kulasekara. Ryder was, however, unfazed by the dismissal of his partner as he went about the task in a calculated manner.

After hitting Kulasekara for three boundaries on the leg-side prior to Uthappa's wicket, the burly Ryder found the fence against Morkel and Dwayne Bravo at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium. But what must have hurt the Warriors at that point of time was the lack of support from the other end.

Yet to find form with the bat, the trend continued for skipper Sourav Ganguly who, despite digging on for some time, could not score more than 16. Marlon Samuels flopped again as he got out to a horrendous shot off the bowling of Mahesh after wasting 15 deliveries for his eight runs, before Smith and Ryder turned the tide in their team's favour.

Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja once again proved his worth with a brisk 26-ball 44 that lifted Chennai to a fighting total. Jadeja took centrestage after opener Faf du Plessis slammed 43 off just 33 balls to set the tone for the visitors.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni contributed 26 off 28 balls while Suresh Raina struck 20 off 19. Opting to bat, Chennai were off to a flyer as du Plessis went hammer and tongs, especially against left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra.

In all, du Plessis hit five fours and two sixes, while Jadeja slammed four boundaries and two sixes. Du Plessis collected 18 runs off Nehra's first over and soon the fifty was up on the board for the Super Kings.

Brought in to bowl the fourth over, Nehra was welcomed with a drive through the off-side. The second ball was carted over the extra cover for another boundary, and Du Plessis got the maximum when he nonchalantly went down the ground to hit Nehra over his head off the bowler's fourth ball.

The show did not end there as the South African sweetly drove Nehra through the extra cover region for another boundary. Thanks to du Plessis' onslaught, Chennai were able to maintain a health run-rate, which however dropped a bit after his dismissal.

Du Plessis' was an important wicket from the Warriors' point of view and the credit for that goes to Rahul Sharma who foxed the batsman with extra bounce in the 10th over. Leg spinner Sharma struck again when he had Raina, caught brilliantly by Steven Smith in the deep.

Chennai got a bit of momentum back as Jadeja picked Murali Karthik for special treatment, lofting him over long-off and long-on for a four and six respectively. Jadeja then hoicked Marlon Samuels over long-on for a massive six,  three  overs after guiding the same bowler to the left of the sweeper fielder. 

IPL 5 Highlights

Pune Warriors have registered their first victory against Chennai in three matches in the IPL - winning % 33.33.

Pune Warriors are at the top of the points table with six points in four games in the present tournament. Mumbai Indians are second with three victories out of four.

Francois du Plessis, with 171 runs at an average of 34.20 in five matches, is the leading run-scorer in the IPL.  Francois du Plessis became the first batsman to post 10 sixes in the IPL 2012. 

With seven wickets at 11.28 runs apiece in four matches, Ashok Dinda is the top wicket-taker for Pune Warriors.

Smith and Ryder put on a match-winning unbroken fourth wicket partnership of 66 - the highest for any wicket for Pune against Chennai.

The aforesaid partnership is the first fifty-plus stand for Pune against Chennai.

Steven Smith's magnificent unbeaten 44 off 22 balls is his highest for Pune Warriors in the IPL.

Jesse Ryder (73 not out off 56 balls) has posted his highest innings in the IPL, obliterating the 60 against Delhi at Mumbai on April 17, 2011.

Ryder has been named the Man of the Match for the first time in the IPL. Ryder's match-winning knock is the highest individual innings for Pune Warriors in the IPL, eclipsing Yuvraj Singh's unbeaten 66 against Delhi Daredevils at Mumbai on April 17, 2011. Ryder has posted one half-century each against Bangalore, Chennai and Delhi.

The top wicket-taker for Chennai Super Kings this year so far is Ravindra Jadeja - seven wickets at 9.85 runs apiece in five matches. 

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (89 runs at 17.80 in five matches) is yet to click in this competition.

Dhoni has completed his 1500 runs in the IPL - 1514 at an average of 36.92 in 64 matches.

Pune Warriors, with a seven-wicket triumph, have emulated a record for their largest win in terms of wickets. Against Punjab at Mumbai on April 10, 2011, they had recorded their first win by seven wickets.  The first team to have lost three matches in the IPL 5 is Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings (155 for five) have recorded their highest total against Pune Warriors in the IPL, eclipsing the 145 for two at Dr D Y Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on April 27, 2011. Pune Warriors (156/3) have registered their highest total against Chennai Super Kings.

Ravichandran Ashwin could bag only one wicket at 118.00 runs apiece in the IPL 5 - his strike rate is 110.00.

Man-of-the-Match: PWI opener Jesse Ryder for his match-winning 56-ball 73* 

Next match ::

Royal challengers bangalore V/s  Pune Warriors India  on  17th April 2012