Mild rain gives way to a Storm in Bangalore

If it was a watchful, sensible innings in the previous match against the Rajasthan Royals meant to just see the target off, the blizzard that hit the usually mild-weathered Bangalore, finished off the opposition.

Boy oh boy! What Chris Gayle unleashed on the 23^rd evening at the Chinnaswamy stadium was annihilation at its best. It crossed the lines of insanity. The match was over before it began.

Gayle who has followed a pattern in the past of picking up momentum after a few quiet overs in the beginning, decided he would not do the predictable on Tuesday against the Pune Warriors. The 6 ft 3 in tall and strong built Jamaican let loose right from the 2^nd over of the match.

Aaron Finch in throwing the ball to Ishwar Pandey, together with the big man who welcomed him with 5 boundaries of his first over, would have killed the debutant’s confidence then and there.

On this day, it didn’t matter who the bowler was or what form of bowling was being unleashed at him. Christopher Gayle decided to treat all bowlers with complete disdain and kept sending the ball towering over the ropes with a chilling frequency. If one were to assign inferences to Umpire Aleem Dar’s expression while signalling one of those umpteen sixes, it was just a feeling of relief that he was not doing the roles for the men in blue that evening.

Gayle hit 175 runs, a score that Virat Kohli would have been happy to walk back with as the team’s total to defend. That Gayle scored them in just 66 balls with 17 sixes and 14 fours, spoke of the brutality of the assault and the power that he could generate, the biceps, triceps and forearms refusing to buckle down. 

                                                  Chris Gayle enjoying the moment on scoring his century                                                     

Other than Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who bowled well but was still lucky enough on the day to have bowled most of his first spell of 3 overs to Dilshan, and Luke Wright who did get some of his deliveries to pitch short of length, there was nothing much in the Warriors’ bowling to be proud of. The bowlers were guilty of bowling full length and feeding Gayle who had come hungry on to the field that evening. The skipper Aaron Finch, Mitchell Marsh, left-armer Ali Murtaza and Ishwar Pandey, all bore the brunt of his onslaught.

AB de Villiers went on an offensive for RCB towards the end of the innings, scoring 31 of 8 balls, but the cameo ran a pale shadow when placed next to the blitzkrieg which lasted the entire innings and returned unbeaten.

Record book keepers were kept busy on the day. The highest score in a T20 of 175 runs; most sixes by a batsmen - 17; and the highest team total in T20 cricket - 263, all of them made their entry into the books.

Robin Uthappa who came in wired up when rain stopped play in the 2^nd over of the match mentioned that they couldn’t wait for the weather to clear up to get on with the match. In retrospect, the rains, had they continued might have helped the Warriors’ spirits and points tally to remain just a shade higher.

The Royal Challengers won with a massive 130 run difference. If anyone was looking at the possibility of RCB getting locked in a Net run-rate tussle to make the play-offs, Gayle has ensured that the battle would cease to be.