IPL: Gambhir Leads Kolkata To A Easy Win Bangalore

Thanks to a commanding show of batsmanship from Gautam Gambhir, the much anticipated match between the two heavy weights- KKR and RCB turned out to be a no-show. The final margin of victory 47 runs while quite huge does fully depict the level of domination KKR enjoyed over their rivals.

While Brendon McCulum struggled to get the ball off the square at the start of the innings, there were no such issues for the KKR captain. Gambhir who got dropped twice early in the innings, made full use of the chances on a sluggish wicket. His partnership with McCulum was worth 95 runs in just 11 overs. Kallis joined in, and took his time to get going, but when he did, smashed three huge sixes in a an innings of 41. Gambhir got dismissed finally on a score of 93 after playing as good an innings one would see in the IPL, one certainly deserving a century. Apart from Dan Vettori none of the RCB bowlers could make a mark on the KKR batting performance.

Chasing a score of 190 on this Eden Gardens wicket was always going to be a tough ask. And when Yusuf Pathan started the innings by dismissing dangerous Dilshan in the first over, the task became even tougher. Gayle and Kohli struggled to get the discipline KKR bowling away. And then the entry of Kallis got the wickets of Virat and AB De Villiers off consecutive to completely derail the innings. Gayle and Sourabh Tiwary thereafter had not answers to the bowling, as they failed to even maintain a runrate of 6 runs per over. The best example of the fact that ‘Statistics don’t always tell the truth’ is Gayle’s innings. He may have remained not out of 86 off 58 balls, but he looked out of sorts throughout and only managed a few academic lusty blows once the required rate had reached impossible proportions. Sunil Narine once again bamboozled the batsmen with his liquorish-all-sorts spin as he gave away just 11 in the 4 overs. Yusuf Pathan who got Dilshan also had a straight forward catch of Gayle dropped in his second over.

This was the sort of match which can propel one team and has the ability to bring down the losing side adversely. RCB would do well if they are able to get over the bashing they received from the side from Kolkata.