Gayle storm sweeps aside Mumbai

Pragyan Ojha turned to bowl to Chris Gayle when 85 were required of 56 deliveries – Kohli new on the crease and a cautious Gayle on thirty. The match was in complete balance, when Gayle decided to let loose. SIX! SIX! SIX! Two full tosses deposited into the square leg stands, with a no-ball on the final delivery resulting in an extra ball that was effortlessly lofted into the second tier of the long-off stand. 66 required off 54 deliveries, and the Gayle storm swept over the wretched Mumbaikars to seal a comfortable victory.

The Challengers had an uphill task of chasing a competitive score of 142 on a seaming track against a potent pace unit led by Lasith Malinga. Dilshan and Gayle started warily, watching off Malinga before picking up the scoring rate and easing into a fluent innings. Dilshan got a rough decision and returned to the pavilion in the 9th over, but Kohli came in to give able support to a charged up Gayle who stormed his way through to an unbeaten 82 off 59 deliveries to help Bangalore register their 6th win of the season and climb to the 4th position in the rankings.

Earlier, Bangalore’s pacers stifled Mumbai on a seaming track with some disciplined bowling and removed Franklin and Sharma early to leave Sachin and Kartik with the task of rebuilding the innings. Just when Tendulkar was starting to look dangerous, he top edged a pull, off Patel to lose his wicket on 41. Kartik and Rayadu added a quick 44, but three quick wickets left Mumbai teetering at 100/6 after 15.5 overs. Pollard and Harbhajan then came up with some lusty blows and propelled Mumbai to a competitive total of 141.

Shot of the day

Gayle smothered the Mumbai bowlers into submission with some thunderous blows, but the shot of the day goes to Harbhajan Singh when he flicked a low full toss from Zaheer Khan into the backward square leg for a boundary that fell an inch short of the ropes.

Disappointments of the day

His heroics from the last match could not inspire a similar performance in this match, as Dwayne Smith failed with the bat after scoring 2 runs off 3 deliveries, and then dropped a skier from Gayle at cover in the sixth over. He may still find solace in the performance of Rohit Sharma, who got out on a duck and conceded 16 off the only over that he bowled.

Face-off of the day

It was always going to be interesting to see how Gayle would play the furious Yorkers and deceptive slower variations of Malinga. The Lankan pacer bowled a total of 10 deliveries to Gayle and conceded just seven runs, but as it turned out, a shrewd Gayle had decided to play out Malinga to reserve his plundering for the other hapless bowlers. Gayle 1, Mumbai 0.

Match meter

A pitch that offered some assistance to the pacers produced an engaging game, with Zaheer Khan and Vinay Kumar finally coming into their own and the ever-frugal Malinga troubling the batsman with his pace and accuracy. On a pitch that most batsmen found difficult to tame, Gayle plundered his way to an unbeaten 82 with some powerful strikes that left the Mumbai crowd silenced in awe. The match gave the spectators their money’s worth and gives yet another twist to the unfolding theater of the IPL. Score: 8/10.

The next step

Just when Mumbai seemed to be easing into form with a set combination of players, a humbling defeat has raised a few questions once again. Franklin’s role in the team is to inject pace into their innings at the top of the order, but he has failed to do so in a couple of disappointing outings. While Sachin and Kartik have looked more fluent by the innings, lack of consistency from the likes of Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayadu gives a cause for concern. Mumbai still have a good chance of making it to the next stage, and would be hoping that all their players make peace with their stars before they hit the knockout stage.

Virat Kohli has taken up the captaincy role from Daniel Vettori and seems to be relishing the opportunity of showing his leading skills, but he would still have to address a few creeping problems. Bangalore’s bowling will face tougher challenges on sluggish wickets in the upcoming matches, and the Indian contingent in their batting line-up needs to step up and relieve Gayle and De Villiers of some burden. With Rajasthan, Punjab and Chennai breathing down their neck, Bangalore needs to keep winning if they want to seal a berth in the playoffs.

Bangalore now get only a day’s rest as they travel to Pune to play the home team on May 11, while Mumbai will face KKR on the 12th at Eden Gardens.