Kohli half-century lifts Bangalore to 175

By Suneer Chowdhary

 

Chennai Super Kings got Chris Gayle out early but had to contend with the hard-hitting capabilities of Virat Kohli who propelled the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a massive 175 for four in the first qualifier of the IPL playoffs.

By Suneer Chowdhary

 

Mumbai: May 24, 2011 

 

Chennai Super Kings got Chris Gayle out early but had to contend with the hard-hitting capabilities of Virat Kohli who propelled the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a massive 175 for four in the first qualifier of the IPL playoffs. The game was played on the same pitch that had hosted the World Cup 2011 final.

 

Much of the talk leading up to this qualifier between the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore was around the batting of Gayle. Given his murderous approach to the batting in the tournament and the ensuing five man-of-the-match awards, it was no surprise.

 

Unfortunately for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, Gayle lasted only nine balls. Off the eighth, he unleashed his ferocity and pulled R Ashwin for a six over mid-wicket and off the ninth, he was trapped lbw.

 

The surprise package of the first half of the innings was Mayank Agarwal. Sent out to open the innings, Agarwal flicked a four off the first ball of the match before lifting Albie Morkel over mid-off in the third over of the game. He continued his aggressive streak with another flick to fine-leg to propel the run-rate towards eight an over.

 

The dismissal of Gayle did not bar Agarwal from playing his shots. In the fifth over, he punched Bollinger through the covers like he was a club bowler before hitting the same bowler over mid-off for another boundary.

 

At 44 for one after six overs, the game seemed evenly poised but a couple of overs later, Agarwal holed out to long-on off Dwayne Bravo. Bravo had had an erratic start to his spell when he sent down two wides in his first over but conceded no boundaries in his first couple of overs, to pull things back.

 

The Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen tried to take on the left arm spin of Shadab Jakati but after AB de Villiers had hit one six, he only managed to spoon up a simple catch off the next attempted shot.

 

At 85 for three in the 12th over, Bangalore had a decent run-rate, but their issue was that the middle-order had been rather untested. Fortunately, Luke Pomersbach, promoted in the batting order over Saurabh Tiwary, was able to maintain that scoring rate and batted long enough to give his side a chance.

 

Pomersbach coupled up well with Virat Kohli, scoring an 18-ball 29 with a couple of sixes and fours in the knock. 14 of them came in the three balls in the 15th over sent down by Bravo.

 

Kohli, on the other hand, started off by picking up singles and getting to 22 off the first 20 before getting a move on by smashing Ashwin for a six in the 16th. Bollinger contained the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 17th over before rounding it off with the dismissal of Pomersbach.

 

By this time, the momentum had shifted towards Bangalore and even the out of form Tiwary got a move on. He clubbed a four over extra-cover off Ashwin before hammering a ball straight back at the bowler with so much power that it gave him no time to react and hit him flush on his head. A groggy Ashwin left the field and the carnage continued at the other end with a couple of sixes off Morkel.

 

Kohli brought up his half-century off 36 balls, taking 19 off the penultimate over but an excellent last over from Bollinger cost only eight. Kohli remained unbeaten on 70 that came off 44 deliveries which spiralled the Bangalore side to 175, the kind of total that they would have liked in such a vital game after being put into bat.

 

Brief scores: RCB 175 for four in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 70*, Mayank Agarwal 34, Luke Pomersbach 29; Doug Bollinger 1 for 20, Dwayne Bravo 1 for 28) vs CSK

 

(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here @suneerchowdhary)

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