IPL 2012 RCB vs Pune Warriors: As it happened...

RCB defeated Pune Warriors by 35 runs

Suyash Srivastava/Zeenews Sports Bureau

Pune: After the delayed start, Chris Gayle was once again on fire as he clobbered Pune bowlers all across the ground during his 31-ball 57. After he perished, Bangalore innings did not have many boundaries but Dilshan (53 from 44) and Saurabh Tiwary (36 from 30) made sure that they reached a formidable total. Bangalore managed to score 173 runs at the end of 20 overs and Pune fell well short by 35 runs. Live Score »I Live commentary »I Points table » 12:20 pm 20th over: 138/9 Vinay Kumar to bowl the last over. It was a slower ball and Upadhyay smashes it for a SIX! He misses the second ball. Kumar bowls another dot ball. Upadhyay takes a single. Smith smashes the next ball straight down the ground for a couple. Smith takes a single off the last ball. Royal Challengers Bangalore win by 35 runs! Steven Smith 24*(25b) K upadhyay 11*(8b) 12:16 pm 19th over: 128/9 Zaheer to bowl the penultimate over. Smith gets off strike of the first ball. Upadhyay is the new batsman. He flicks one on the leg-side for a couple. He plays the next ball back to Zaheer. Upadhyay takes a single towards long-off. Smith takes a single. Upadhyay ends the over with a single. 12:11 pm 18th over: 122/9 Vinay Kumar brought back into the attack. Smith takes a single towards long-on. Thomas is BOWLED off a perfect yorker! Thomas was looking to make some room and he failed as the middle-stump was uprooted! Rahul Sharma is the new batsman. A dot ball. Smith hits the next ball towards wide of long-on where a misfield produces a couple. Smith gets another perfect yorker, and Smith almost played in onto the stumps, a single taken. Sharma tries to work one on the leg-side as his off-stump is uprooted this time. Rahul Sharma is BOWLED! Rahul Sharma b Vinay Kumar 0(2) AC Thomas b Vinay Kumar 7 (6b) 12:06 pm 17th over: 117/7 Khan back into the attack. Thomas takes a single off the first ball. Smith takes a single towards deep backward point. Thomas works a single towards third-man. Smith runs a leg-bye towards short fine-leg. Thomas taps the next ball back to Zaheer. Thomas makes some room and hits the last ball over extra-cover for a boundary. 11:59 pm 16th over: 109/7 Murali to bowl his last over. Smith sweeps the first ball for a single. Kumar comes down the track and scores a single towards midwicket. A dot ball. Smith plays the next ball towards short third-man for a single. Kumar is BOWLED! Kumar was looking to play a late cut as the ball spun sharply and crashed onto the stumps. Thomas is the new batsman. He gets off the mark with a single. Bhuvneshwar b Muralitharan 2(4b) 11:55 pm 15th over: 105/6 Patel to continue. Majumdar charges down the track, hits the ball high in the air and Majumdar is OUT, caught by Zaheer! Bhuvaneshwar Kumar is the new batsman. Kumar works the next ball towards deep backward point for a single. Smith tries to heave a big one, fails as an inside-edge goes to the keeper. Smith drives the next ball for a single. A dot ball. Anustup Majumdar c Zaheer b Harshal Patel 31(26) 11:51 pm 14th over: 102/5 Appanna to continue. He begins with a dot ball. Majumdar takes a single off the next ball. Smith works the next ball towards square leg for a single. Majumdra comes down the wicket and he smashes one towards deep cover for a single. Smith goes inside-out over extra-cover for a boundary. Great stroke by the stand-in skipper! Smith comes down the wicket and he wanted a single, confusion between the two, a direct-hit and Smith was GONE! 11:47 pm 13th over: 94/5 Patel comes back into the attack. Majumdar plays the first ball back to the bowler. He flicks the next ball over short fine-leg for a boundary! A dot ball. Majumdar takes a single towards long-on. Patel bowls a slower one, Smith is deceived and an lbw appeal is rejected by the umpire. Smith takes a single. 11:43 pm 12th over: 88/5 Appanna to continue. Now Mathews is stumped! Mathews charged down the wicket and missed the line of the ball. Steven Smith is the new batsman. He gets off the mark with a couple. Smith sweeps the next ball for a single. Majumdar takes a quick single off the last ball. 11:38 pm 11th over: 84/4 Murali to continue. Majumdar takes a single off the first ball. Mathews works the second ball for a single. A dot ball. Majumdar takes a quick single towards short fine-leg. A dot ball. A single off the last ball. 11:35 pm 10th over: 80/4 Appanna to bowl his second over. He begins with a dot ball. Mathews plays the second ball back to the bowler. Mathews manages a single on the leg-side. A Wide ball. Majumdar comes down the wicket, makes some room and clears the off-side field for a boundary. A dot ball. A single taken off the last ball. 11:32 pm 9th over: 73/4 Murali to continue. Majumdar defends the first ball back to the bowler. Majumdar takes a quick single. Uthappa comes down the wicket and is beaten in flight. Uthappa is OUT! STUMPED by de Villiers! Murali saw him coming and he bowled it a bit wide and Uthappa was beaten. Angelow Mathews is the new batsman. Two dot balls. A misfield off the last ball produces a single. Uthappa st de Villiers b Muralitharan 38(23b) 11:26 pm 8th over: 71/3 Patel to continue. Majumdar takes a single towards long-on. Patel bowls a short ball and Uthappa pulls it towards square leg for a boundary! He again comes on the frontfoot, picks the slower ball and clobbers it over deep midwicket for Pune’s first DLF maximum! Uthappa beats the man at point to score a couple off the next ball. Uthappa works a full-toss straight for a single. Majumdar takes a single off the last ball. 15 runs off that over. 11:21 pm 7th over: 56/3 Muralitharan comes into the attack. Uthappa defends the first ball for no run. Uthappa comes down the wicket and loses his balance on the pitch. Uthappa plays a reverse-sweep that produces a boundary. Uthappa plays the next ball towards short fine-leg for a single. Majumdar flicks the next ball on the leg-side for a single. Murali ends the over with a single. 11:18 pm 6th over: 50/3 KP Appanna comes into the attack. A leg bye takes off the first ball. The next ball beats Uthappa, de Villiers. Uthappa hits one straight to long-off for a single. Majumadar makes some room and clears the off-side field for a boundary. Majumdar comes down the track and scores a couple towards midwicket. Great shot by Majumdar! He goes inside-out over extra-cover for an elegant boundary. 12 runs from the over. 11:14 pm 5th over: 38/3 Majumdar is the new batsman. Harshal Patel comes into the attack. Majumdar scores a couple on the off-side. Majumdar takes a quick single towards mid-on. Patel offers width and Uthappa hits it between gully and point for a boundary. Uthappa slams the next ball straight down the ground for a couple. Apanna does well to restrict it to just two. The next ball takes a top-edge and flies towards third-man for another boundary. 12 from the over. 11:09 pm 4th over: 26/3 Kumar to continue. Clarke hits the first ball high over mid-on for a couple. This time Clarke clears the mid-off fielder to produce a boundary. Kumar bowls a slower ball, Clarke manages a single on the leg-side. Uthappa hits the next ball towards long-off for a single. Clarke gets a half-volley and he IS CAUGHT AT MIDWICKET! Uthappa gives a death touch to the last ball of the over towards third-man for a boundary. Michael Clarke c Saurabh Tiwary b Vinay Kumar 13(10b) 11:04 pm 3rd over: 14/2 Khan to continue. Uthappa works the first ball towards covers for no run. The next ball is a half-volley and that beats Uthappa’s bat. Zak has something to say to Uthappa! Uthappa clears the off-side field and takes three runs. Clarke hits the next ball back to Zak. Clarke takes a quick single. Uthappa plays the last ball towards mid-off for no run. 10: pm 2nd over: 10/1 Vinay Kumar to bowl the second over. Clarke on strike. Clarke gets off the mark with a little inside-edge. Kumar bowls a bouncer. Uthappa takes a risky single, a direct-hit and Calrke was not in the frame! Clarke clears the man at mid-on for a boundary straight down the ground. Clarke hits the next one towards mid-off and refuses for a single. Kumar ends the over with a dot ball. 10:53 pm 1st over: 4/2 Zak to bowl the first over. Mohnish Mishra and Clarke to open for Pune. He begins with two dot balls. Mishra comes down the wicket and smashes the ball over mid-off for a boundary. Mishra is OUT! Caught plumb in front of the wicket! A dot ball. And Manish Pandey is bowled! That was a great ball that was pitched on the full and it moved in and crashed onto the stumps. Great over from Zaheer Khan! Uthappa is the new batsman. MK Pandey b Khan 0 (2b) MD Mishra lbw b Khan 4 (4b) Gayle-storm got RCB to a flyer as the Jamaican clobbered 57 runs from just 31 balls which had three boundaries and six DLF maximums. Pune would be happy with that score as Bangalore reached 80 in just 8 overs. Things slowed down once Gayle perished and Pune should fancy their chances of chasing down the stiff chase. 10:33 pm 20th over: 173/3 Thomas to bowl the last over. Tiwary hits the first ball straight down the ground for a boundary! Good start by Tiwary. Tiwary works the next ball towards midwicket for a single. The next ball is a full-toss, de Villiers manages just a single towards long-on. Tiwary flicks the next ball towards square-leg for a couple. Tiwary takes a single towards midwicket. Last ball off the innings. De Villiers on strike. Thomas bowls a short ball and de Villiers ends the innings in style with a SIX over long-on! Pune need 174 runs to win from 20 overs. Saurabh Tiwary 36*(30b) AB de Villiers 9*(4b) 10:28 pm 19th over: 158/3 Kumar to bowl the penultimate over. Tiwary comes down the wicket and smashes the ball wide of long-off for a boundary! Kumar bowls a short ball, Tiwary doesn’t connect. Tiwary takes a single towards long-off. De Villiers was looking to make some room, the bowler followed him and he managed just a single. Tiwary takes a couple towards long-on. Tiwary takes a single off the last ball. 10:24 pm 18th over: 149/3 Thomas comes back into the attack. He begins with a slower one and deceives Tiwary. Dilshan is RUN-OUT! Tiwary hits it straight to Thomas, who removed the bails at the non-striker’s end as Dilshan was well outside his crease. Tiwary hits the next ball straight down the ground for a boundary. Tiwary smashes the next ball towards wide of long-on for a couple. Tiwary takes a single towards long-on. AB de Villiers is the new batsman. Last ball of the over. He makes some room and a couple taken off the last ball. Dilshan run out (Alfonso Thomas) 53(44) 10:19 pm 17th over: 138/2 Kumar brought back into the attack. Dilshan attempts a sweep, doesn’t connect, manages a single. Tiwary takes a single. Dilshan scores a couple towards square leg. Dilshan takes a single as Smith dives towards covers for a single. Tiwary takes a single towards square leg. A dot ball to end the over. 10:15 pm 16th over: 132/2 Mathews comes back into the attack. Dilshan hits the first ball towards covers for no run. Dilshan hits the next ball towards point for no run. Dilshan takes a quick single off the next ball. A dot ball. Tiwary takes a single towards long-on. Dilshan ends the over with a single. 10:10 pm 15th over: 129/2 Upadhyay to continue. Tiwary takes a single. Dilshan sweeps the next ball for a boundary. Dilshan cuts the next ball between gully and point for another boundary! Back-to-back boundaries for the Sri Lankan! Dilshan comes down the wicket, gets an outside-edge, the ball flies past third-man for a boundary! Dilshan takes a single off the next ball. A dot ball to end the over. 10:06 pm 14th over: 115/2 Sharma to bowl his last over. Dilshan cuts the next ball for a boundary towards wide off third-man. Dilshan cuts again, manages just a single this time. Tiwary comes down the wicket and hits one over extra-cover for a boundary! Tiwary hits the next ball towards short third-man for no runs. Tiwary takes a single off the next ball. Last ball of Sharma’s spell, he bowls a full-toss and Dilshan hits it over square leg for a SIX! 16 runs from the over. Time for a strategic break. 10:00 pm 13th over: 99/2 Upadhyay comes back into the attack. He begins with a dot ball. Another dot ball. Tiwary defends the next ball towards off-side for no run. Tiwary takes a single. Dilshan takes a single to keep the strike. 09:57 pm 12th over: 97/2 Sharma to continue. Kohli takes a quick single off the first ball. Dilshan works the next ball for a single on the leg-side. The next ball is a flighted delivery and it takes a leading edge, flies towards mid-off and skipper Smith takes an easy catch! Tiwary is the new batsman. He defends the first ball back to the bowler. Tiwary gets off the mark with a single. Sharma bowls a Wide. Sharma ends the over with a dot ball. Virat Kohli c Steven Smith b Rahul Sharma 9(12b) 09:53 pm 11th over: 93/1 Clarke comes into the attack. He begins with a dot ball. Another dot ball. Kohli drives the next ball through extra-cover for an elegant boundary! A dot ball. Kohli defends the next ball back to Clarke for no run. Kohli ends the over with a single. 09:50 pm 10th over: 88/1 Rahul Sharma to continue. Kohli takes a single off the first ball. A dot ball. Dilshan gets some width and he fails to make the most of it, no runs scored. Dilshan cuts the next ball wide of point for a single. Kohli gets come width and now he fails to capitalize on it, no runs scored. Kohli pushes the last ball towards long-on for a single. 09:47 pm 9th over: 85/1 Mathews comes into the attack. Dilshan scores a couple towards deep extra-cover. Dilshan scores a single straight down the ground. BIG BLOW FOR RCB, GAYLE IS OUT!! Gayle once again tried to clear the long-on boundary, fails and is caught at long-on. But he has already done the damage! Virat Kohli is the new batsman. He gets off the mark with a single. A dot ball. The last bal runs past third-man for a boundary. Gayle c Manish Pandey b Mathews 57(31b) 09:41 pm 8th over: 77/0 Rahul Sharma comes into the attack. Gayle welcomes him with a boundary towards fine-leg. Gayle takes a single off the second ball. Sharma beats Dilshan with one that turns away from him. Dilshan takes a single. Gayle works the next ball towards long-off for a single. Dilshan takes a single off the last ball. 09:35 pm 7th over: 69/0 Mathews comes into the attack and he begins with a dot ball. Dilshan takes a single. Mathews follows it with two dot balls. Gayle works the next ball for a single. The last ball is fielded at point for no run. Great over by Mathews, just three runs from it. 09:30 pm 6th over: 66/0 Dilshan takes a quick single. The next ball is a half-volley and Gayle smacks it straight down the ground for another SIX! Kumar follows it with a dot ball. Another half-volley and Gayle clobbers it over long-on for a massive SIX! And another! Third six for Chris Gayle! Michael Clarke is scratching his head. The last ball is hit over and above long-off for Gayle’s fourth six off the over! And it is 50 for Gayle which has come off just 24 balls! Chris Gayle 50*(24b) Dilshan 11*(13b) 09:26 pm 5th over: 45/0 Thomas brought back into the attack. Dilshan drives the first ball towards mid-on for no run. Dilshan pulls a slower one for a single. Gayle works a slower bouncer for a single. Thomas bowls a Wide. Dilshan pulls the next ball towards square leg for a single. Thomas bowls another slower ball and Gayle goes straight down the ground for a one bounce four! Thomas bowls a yorker, Gayle gets an outside edge that rushes towards third-man for a boundary. 09:21 pm 4th over: 29/0 Bhuvaneshwar Kumar comes into the attack. He begins with a dot ball. The second ball produces a couple towards third-man. Dilshan defends the next ball to mid-off for no run. Dilshan pulls the next ball towards square leg for a single. Gayle comes down the wicket and hits it on the leg-side for no run. The next ball is hit straight to the man at cover for no run. Kumar ends the over with a dot ball. 09:15 pm 3rd over: 25/0 Upadhyay to continue. He offers some width and that is clobbered over deep extra-cover for a SIX BY GAYLE! He bowls a short one and that is smashed towards mid-off for no run. Gayle comes down the wicket and smashes one towards mid-on for no run. Gayle defends the next ball on the off-side where a misfield produces a single. Gayle works the next ball towards mid-on. Gayle smacks the last ball over long-on for another SIX! That was stand and deliver! 09:12 pm 2nd over: 11/ Alfonso Thomas to bowl the first second over. Gayle works the first ball for a single and it’s a NO-BALL. Dilshan slashes hard towards extra-cover for a boundary! Dilshan defends the next ball towards point for no run. Thomas appeals for an lbw, turned down by the umpire. Thomas bowls another dot ball. Gayle leaves a ball to the keeper. Gayle comes down the wicket and takes a risky single towards mid-on. 09:07 pm 1st over: 3/0 Gayle and Dilshan open for Bangalore. K Upadhyay to bowl the first over and he begins with two dot balls. The third ball is played towards Smith at point for no run. Gayle takes a risky single off the fourth ball. Dilshan survives a run-out! A direct hit and he was gone. Dilshan works the next ball towards midwicket for a single. Gayle ends the over with a single towards third-man. 8:58 pm Good news! Match will begin in a few minutes. 8:38 pm The rain has stopped and the umpires have had a look of the pitch which looks all right, but they are not sure about the outfield. Another inspection will be done in a while. The match has been delayed due to rain. 07:35pm Time, Toss Steven Smith won the toss and decided to bowl first. As per reports, Steven Smith will lead Pune Warriors india. Pune Warriors India took everybody by surprise when they became the table-toppers after their first four matches. In the fifth match they clashed against Royal Challengers Bangalore and just for a reminder, it was the same encounter in which Gayle clobbered Rahul Sharma for five consecutive sixes and AB de Villiers helped his side to an emphatic win after Ashish Nehra leaked 21 runs off the last over. A lot has changed since then and RCB have become a much threatening side and Pune Warriors are now second from the bottom in the points table only behind Deccan Chargers who have registered 2 wins from 13 matches. The only thing which hasn’t changed since that encounter is the approach of Chris Gayle. He now has the orange cap and keeping his current form in mind, Pune bowlers should just pray for the Jamaican to make a mistake and perish early in the innings. Apart from Gayle, Pune will be wary of the damage de Villiers can cause towards the end. And Virat Kohli coming back to form has done nothing good for Pune. While RCB batsmen have been delivering with all guns blazing, Pune Warriors’ major concern is the failure of their top batsmen. Their skipper Sourav Ganguly is under the scanner and as per reports, there are doubts over his inclusion in the playing eleven. Players to watch out for: Royal Challengers Bangalore: While it is difficult to pick any one batsmen from their camp, needless to say, Chris Gayle will once again be the man who can single-handedly remind Pune bowlers of his onslaught in their previous encounter. He now owns the orange cap and has been extremely consistent with the bat, being the driving force behind Bangalore’s IPL 2012 campaign. Pune Warriors India: Surprisingly Pune Warriors didn’t include Jesse Ryder in the previous match. Keeping in mind the current form of Pune, it is a risk worth taking because if he gets going, Pune shall have a formidable total to offer the Challengers.