Former Australia wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist smashed a whirlwind century as Kings XI Punjab thrashed Royal Challengers Bangalore by 111 runs in the Indian Premier League match in Dharamsala.
The explosive opener scored the sixth century of the tournament and was only dismissed off the penultimate delivery as Punjab posted a monumental 232 for two before Piyush Chawla and Ryan Harris shared seven wickets between them to dismiss Bangalore for a paltry 121.
The Royal Challengers, who did not even bat their full quota of overs and still top the IPL table, lost their fourth match in the tournament.
After Paul Valthaty was dismissed for 20, Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh put on a record partnership of 206 – the highest for the second wicket in the IPL – and put Bangalore out of the game. Gilchrist hit 106, including eight fours and also equalled this season’s IPL record of nine sixes by West Indies opener Chris Gayle.
Marsh remained not out on 79 and Bangalore had barely recovered from the thrashing before Harris claimed the all-important scalp of Gayle in the second over of Bangalore’s innings.
They were reduced to 43 for four as the match remained a formality. AB de Villiers hit 34 but there was no substantial contribution to bother the Punjab team.
Deccan prevail against Pune
Deccan Chargers won their fifth match in the IPL after defeating Pune Warriors by six wickets. Sunny Sohal continued with his good form to give a good start to Deccan that laid the platform for them to chase down the modest 137-run target.
Sohal put on 67 for the opening wicket with Shikhar Dhawan, who contributed 28, before Pune captain Yuvraj Singh, as he so often does, provided the breakthrough. Rahul Sharma then dismissed Sohal to give Pune a chance before captain Kumar Sangakkara and JP Duminy provided a 35-run stand to take the game away from Pune. And though both were dismissed, Daniel Christian made 14 as Deccan won in the final over.
Earlier, a top-order collapse derailed the Pune team. The IPL newcomers were reduced to 45 for five after being 31 for no loss. New Zealand’s Jesse Ryder provided a strong start with Manish Pandey before fast-bowler Dale Steyn gave the breakthrough. It was downhill from there as Christian dismissed former India captain Sourav Ganguly for nought and Pragyan Ojha dimissed Pandey.
Amit Mishra accounted for Robin Uthappa and batsmen fell like ninepins. With the scoreboard moving at snail’s pace, Callum Ferguson was the next to go before the captain fell for 23, just when he had started to look threatening.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2011.
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