Kolkata: Gujarat Lions added to the woes of the Royal Challengers Bangalore in this tournament after they strolled past the Virat Kohli led side comfortably by seven wickets with 37 balls to spare at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Thursday.
Andrew Tye (3/12) supported by Ravindra Jadeja (2/28) and James Faulkner (1/15) completely derailed the Royal Challengers Bangalore as the home team kept on losing wickets in heaps which never really got them going. Heavyweight batsmen Virat Kohli (10), Chris Gayle (8) and AB De Villiers (5) put on a similar performance as that of their match against Kolkata few days back as this time around, their team could only muster 134 runs after being put to bat by Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina. Kedar Jadav(31) and Pawan Negi(32) were the was the best batsman for Bangalore.
In reply, Gujarat Lions were dealt with a early blow as in-form opener Brendon McCullum (3) and young batsman Ishan Kishan (16) were sent back into the hut within five overs by leg spinner Samuel Badree. But Raina (34*) and Aaron Finch (72) stitched a match-winning 92 run partnership to take Gujarat home by seven wickets to spare, handing yet another defeat to Kohli’s Bangalore.
This defeat makes things really difficult for Bangalore as now, the seventh placed side needs to win all their five remaining games and that too, by big margins to have any sort of hopes in qualifying for the playoffs. Gujarat Lions are however placed sixth in the points table and need to carry on with this momentum going forward into the tournament.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 134 all out in 20 0vers (Pawan Negi 32, Kedar Jadav 31; Andrew Tye 3/12) lost to Gujarat Lions 135/3 in 13.5 overs (Aaron Finch 72, Suresh Raina 34; Samuel Badree 2/29) by 7 wickets.