Blame it all on Chris Gayle

There was a time in Indian cricket when the absence of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar would mean a massive loss for the team. That was in the 90s where Sachin Tendulkar used to be the key man for his team's success in at least 75% of the games India played. Now, the same problem is found to haunt the Royal Challengers Bangalore who can hardly come close to winning in case Chris Gayle fails with the bat. Yesterday's game was the best example in the match against Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kings XI Punjab. Bangalore lost to Punjab by 111 runs.

Chris Gayle's score in that game was nothing but zero. This was the match that all RCB fans would have been looking forward to having very high expectations from Chris Gayle. And, one cannot just blame Gayle for disappointing his fans. Chris Gayle has been entertaining his fans ever since he entered the contest after his national duty involving the series against Pakistan. However, what if Chris Gayle didn't score a ton; There was Adam Gilchrist who did everything that was expected from Chris Gayle. Adam Gilchrist scored a hundred when he ended his innings at 106 from 55 balls.

This was more than enough to ascertain that the viewers were not deceived from any sort of cricketing action on the field no matter from which team it comes. Any Indian fan would have loved to see the entertainment on the field irrespective of which city or state is playing. One can take a look at the scorecard to see 9 sixes hit from the blades of Gilchrist which I'm afraid whether any batsmen has been able to overtake. I might just have to take time to see whether the total of 232 is the highest by any team in the IPL.

Of course, 232 is the highest team total in this year's IPL. Chasing this big total would have been possible only had Chris Gayle continued from where he had left it in his previous game. But, that very busy man had no time to help his team mates in this game. And, what better treatment can one get when he hands over the ball to Virat Kohli? Making it his day, it was Gilchrist who took the catch of Chris Gayle behind the stumps. Likewise, another major contribution that needs to be applauded is that of Piyush Chawla who ended his spell with 4 wickets.

RCB - KXIP = 85 runs

What better results can be expected from a team which is at one of the highest position in the points table plays a team at equal places counted from the bottom of the same? And that was what the spectators at the Chinnaswamy stadium witnessed yesterday with the Royal Challengers Bangalore piling up 205 runs on the board and the Kings XI Punjab losing the plot at 120 with 85 runs still being needed to at least snatch a tie. A fascinating aspect of the game was the the Kings XI Punjab didn't lose all ten wickets despite the pressure.

There was one man in Chris Gayle who scored 13 runs less than what the entire Kings XI Punjab team could manage in 20 legal overs excluding the extras in just 8.1 overs. There can be nothing said about this great man whose introduction into the IPL is as good as the entry of a hero in a James Bond movie. It was as though a shadow of Brian Lara and Vivian Richards was out there batting for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. This was an innings one of its kind needless to be said. The entire team can be dedicated to Gayle alone.

Having Chris Gayle in the team, the RCB captain can experiment with at least five of his batsmen provided Chris Gayle continues in this form. Looking at the scorecard it is unbelievable that he remaining scores put together comes up to 98 runs with not other batsman daring to cross more than 27 runs. I could just remember a match in which Sehwag scores 80 runs to see the Delhi team through earlier in the tournament. This was a similar match with Gayle replacing Sehwag. As usual, both captains didn't ever experiment with their bowlers with 8 bowlers in the game finishing their quota.

This should not be a cause of worry for the Royal Challengers but a point to think about for the Kings XI Punjab. If one side of the coin is considered, even Gilchrist has a point when nothing could be done as long as Chris Gayle was there batting and the remaining bowlers were enough to contain the rest of the batsmen from the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Eventually, a bunch of players from the Kings XI Punjab that includes Paul Valthaty, Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, Abhishek Nayar and Dinesh Karthik could not score at over 6.0 runs an over which was aided by 5 extras.

RCB ahead of KXIP in all aspects

Well hardly anyone on earth would have anticipated the Royal Challengers Bangalore to not only win the match against the Kumara Sangakkara led Kings XI Punjab but also chase a mammoth total of 204 runs by losing just 2 wickets in the process. Such a match can hardly be found anywhere in the history books concerning cricket. The Kings XI captain Kumara Sangakkara was found bringing in 7 of his bowlers, none of whom could settle things for his team. This I heard was just the second time that the Royal Challengers have won a match against the Kings XI Punjab in the history of the IPL.

And, the way they have done it is just superb and nothing else. None of the 7 bowlers who had the the ball in their hands from the Kings XI Punjab were found bowling their full quota of 4 overs. That was the fears that Jacques Kallis injected in the minds of the bowlers of Kings XI Punjab. It was a more or less a one handed effort from Jacques Kallis that ensured not only of a Royal Challengers win but also ensured that the Kings XI Punjab team will go into the next match without a win in their hands in the current edition of the IPL.

One has to indeed raise his eyebrows for the coincidences that are found taking place in the match. If there were a team in Kings XI Punjab who are yet to win a match in the current edition of the IPL as stated above, there is a batsman in Jacques who is yet to lose his wicket in the current edition of the IPL. If at all someone os to be blamed for the debacle of the Kings XI Punjab as far as their match against Royal Challengers is to be considered, it has to be only the fortune of the KXIP team and no one else.

The Kings XI Punjab batsmen did each and everything they could to ensure that they stay on the top by piling up a mammoth 203 runs on the board losing just three wickets en-route. But, not only did they end up as the losing team but also, could not take more than two wickets off the RCB batsmen. The pitch no doubt was a paradise for batsmen but, had that been the case, the Kings XI captain Kumara Sangakkara should not have chosen to bat first after winning the toss. And, with a batsman like Kallis there in the opposition, nothing good can be guaranteed.