Royal Challengers Bangalore clinched incredible last ball victory vs. Pune Warriors

Royal Challengers Bangalore 186-4 (Chris Gayle 81, Saurabh Tiwary 36*, Marlon Samuels 1-5) beat Pune Warriors 182-6 (Robin Uthappa 69, Jesse Ryder 34, Vinay Kumar 2-34) by 6 wickets.

Chris Gayle laid down a solid foundation as Saurabh Tiwary smashed a six on the last ball and won the cliff-hanger for Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Pune Warriors.

Pune Warriors scored a reasonable 182 runs for the loss of six wickets and Royal Challengers Bangalore won the match on the last ball of the 20^th over by smashing 186 runs with six wickets still in hand.

Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his incredible innings of 81 off 48 balls.

The 21^st match of the Indian Premier League 2012 was held at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore, on April 17, 2012 and a full house home crowd was excited by the performance of their team.

Earlier, Sourav Ganguly, the skipper of Pune Warriors, won the toss and elected to bat with a vision to post a handsome score on a batting paradise wicket. The innings was opened by Robin Uthappa and Jesse Ryder while they geared up by dispatching 48 runs in the first five overs. The batsmen were sending the ball out of the fence regularly complimented by occasional sixes as well and furnished 63 runs for the first wicket in seven overs.

Ryder became the first victim for 34 runs scored on 22 balls with one six and 4 fours as Ganguly came in next but Uthappa carried on with the attack and achieved his fifty on the fifth ball of the 10^th over with a four. Uthappa was dropped on the fourth ball of the 12^th over and Ganguly lost his wicket on the very next ball for six runs. The second wicket fell at 108 runs and Robbin Uthappa went back to the pavilion with the addition of nine runs in the total for 69 off 45 deliveries with the assistance of 2 sixes and 9 fours.

Marlon Samuels held one end with little assistance from the incoming batsmen and he was the fifth batsman who lost his wicket as the score reached 166, at his individual contribution of 34 from 20 balls with two sixes and a four. Pune Warriors managed 182 runs with four wickets in hand at the end of the scheduled 20 overs.

Vinay Kumar was the top wicket taker with two whereas Harshal Patel and Daniel Vettori shared one wicket each.

Royal Challengers Bangalore lost their first wicket for just seven runs on the third ball of the second over when Tillakaratne Dilshan was gone for just four runs and Chris Gayle was living dangerously at the other end. Gayle managed just three runs in the first eight balls when he opened his arms against Ashish Nehra in the fourth over by gathering 17 runs with two lofty sixes and a four.

It became a one man show as Gayle took responsibility of scoring and the wickets kept on sliding at the other end. He butchered Rahul Sharma for a five consecutive sixes in the 13^th over, scored his fifty and changed the complexion of the game. The score was enhanced to 127 runs in 15.4 overs when Chris Gayle became the fourth victim when he was bowled by Nehra for 81 off just 48 balls that comprised 8 huge sixes and 4 fours.

Saurabh Tiwary and AB de Villiers joined together at the crease when the target was slipping away from their hands and 55 runs were required to win the match in just 24 deliveries. The duo managed 11 runs from the 17^th over followed by 16 in the next with two sixes and they still needed 21 runs in the last six balls which looked difficult.

The last over was bowled by Ashish Nehra and Tiwary stole one run off the first ball as de Villiers butchered him for a four, six, six and a single on the next four balls. They were still three runs away from the victory as Tiwary lofted the last ball over long on boundary for a classic six and brought home a well deserved triumph.

Royal Challengers hammered 186 runs for the loss of  just four wickets whereas Saurab Tiwary was at the crease with 36 off 23 with 2 sixes and a four and AB de Villiers remained unbeaten for 33 from just 14 balls with the help of 3 mighty sixes and 2 fours.

Ashok Dinda, Ashish Nehra, Marlon Samuels and Angelo Matthews were the only successful bowlers with one wicket each.

Royal Challengers Bangalore won the thrilling encounter by six wickets at their home ground and got two valuable points.

Points secured by two teams at the end of the 21^st match of the IPL 2012:

Pune Warriors                            – 6 from 5 games.

Royal Challengers Bangalore   – 4 from 5 games.