King Chris Gayle continues Royal Challengers Bangalore show

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No target, under any circumstances can be daunting enough for Chris Gayle to give in.

And the Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman asserted it yet again in his side’s five-wicket win over Kings XI Punjab at the PCA Stadium here on Friday.

Reduced to 25/3 in 5.1 overs, RCB rode on a 131-run stand for the fourth wicket between Gayle 87 (56b, 8x4, 4x6) and AB de Villiers 52 (39b, 6x4), to eke out a win with three balls to spare.

For once, Kings XI’s poor bowling display overshadowed their struggling batsmen as the duo punished them at will.

Ignored for most of the games, Awana (4/34) was the only noteworthy bowler for the hosts, scalping the top four batsmen, including Gayle.

And even though Piyush Chawla (1/21) accounted for de Villiers in the penultimate over, the damage had already been done.

Earlier, predictability was the order of the day for Kings XI batsmen who toiled hard to reach 163/6.

Put in to bat, barring stand-in skipper David Hussey (41, 34b, 4x4), none of the batsmen could stand up to RCB’s pace attack.

It was only thanks to a late assault by Azhar Mahmood and Mandeep Singh that the Kings were able to rack up a respectable score.

The two carefully stitched a crucial 44-run partnership. Mahmood lived up to all the hype surrounding his IPL debut, cruising to an unbeaten 33 off just 14 balls, studded with three fours and two sixes.

Opener Nitin Saini (14) replaced injured skipper Adam Gilchrist, failed to get the team a start, being bowled by Zaheer Khan (2/25).

Hussey, who came in at no. 4, tried to steady the innings, sharing a 30-run stand with Marsh (26).

But lack of partnerships has been the norm for the hosts and once again they left a chunk of the job to a late flourish by the tail-enders.

Failing to find a steady partner, on most occasions, Hussey seemed more disappointed than the batsman walking back to the pavilion.

The lack of boundaries in the Australian’s innings showed his desperation to preserve his wicket and he eventually gave in to the pressure