Royal Challengers crush Knight Riders with Gayle ton

Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 for 1 (Gayle 102*, Balaji 1-43) beat 

Kolkata Knight Riders 171 for 5 (Gambhir 48, Aravind 2-37 ) by nine wickets 

Chris Gayle has arrived. He smashed his way to his first IPL century, the second-fastest in this edition of the competition, and was the architect of Bangalore's victory over his former team, Kolkata. Gayle formed powerful partnerships with Tillakaratne Dilshan and Virat Kohli as Bangalore were untroubled in their chase of 172, winning by nine wickets.

The pitch was proving to be tricky for the quicks and Kolkata opted to start with a spinner after having posted 171. Yusuf Pathan, who was battling a knee niggle, opened the bowling. After three good deliveries, Yusuf strayed on the leg stump and Dilshan cashed in with four through square leg. With that, the flood gates were opened.

In the fourth over, Gayle had scored just three singles - while Dilshan had notched up 19 - when he was offered a full toss. He drove it down past the non-striker for the first of his 17 boundaries. It didn't matter what Bangalore tried after that. Jaidev Unadkat was dispatched with disdain as Gayle went down on one knee, smacking him for six over long-on. Shakib Al Hasan was tossed around like a limp ragdoll, slogged over midwicket and mowed over deep square. Yusuf was smoked through the covers. Gayle even showed a touch of deftness, playing one fine to the third man boundary.

It didn't matter who was given the ball, even though spin proved difficult to get away during the Kolkata innings. Manoj Tiwary was slapped over long-on and even mishit for six. Medium pacer Rajat Bhatia was hit for 17 runs in his second over, 16 off Gayle's bat. At the end of 12 overs, Bangalore were cruising on 123 for 1 when Dilshan was bowled by L Balaji, who controlled the swing admirably.

The Gayle force blew on though. Together with Kohli, he brought the required run rate down to less than a run a ball. Kohli was given some room to express himself too, taking advantage of full balls offered by Balaji and showing off his wrist work against Bhatia. Kohli almost had too much fun and denied Gayle a century with a boundary off the first ball of the 18th over, that left Bangalore with just two to win. He blocked out the rest of the over to make amends.

Even a wide from Iqbal Abdulla couldn't stop Gayle, who ended the innings with a smashing shot through the covers, winning the match with 11 balls to spare. Gayle, who was picked up by Bangalore as a replacement for the injured Dirk Nannes, wore a jersey with 333 - his highest Test score - on the back and made light work of a total that Kolkata should have been able to defend.

Their innings was held together by a classy 48 from captain Gautam Gambhir, patience from Jacques Kallis and a measured assault by Yusuf.

Things started disastrously for Bangalore with Zaheer Khan's first over going for 19 runs. It consisted of three wides, one of which went for four, and three boundaries, all off the bat of Kallis. Sreenath Aravind fared a little better, his first over going for 14.

Daniel Vettori rung in the changes immediately, replacing Khan with left-arm spinner Syed Mohammed. Together with Dilshan, he hauled the run rate back to reasonable 8.33 per over. Mohammed was impressive in his initial two-over spell and was rewarded for tight bowling when Haddin tried to hit him over mid-off but got an edge that Kohli collected at point.

Kallis and Gambhir batted with patience against the slower bowlers and unleashed when Khan was brought back in the 11th over. Gayle played a role in the field as well, taking the catch that sent Kallis on his way. Vettori bowled a shorter one which Kallis drove on the up towards extra cover where Gayle dived to his left and plucked the ball out of the sky.

Yusuf, batting at four, allowed himself five balls to settle before depositing a Mohammed delivery over long-on. After Gambhir was caught by Dilshan at extra cover, Yusuf unleashed. He destroyed Aravind, pulling the short one for four, smashing the full one for six and dispatching the low full toss to the boundary.

The quicks redeemed themselves a bit with Khan bowling a decent last over, mixing up slower balls and yorkers, and Aravind claiming the wicket of Yusuf, who was trying to force the ball over long off but only got it as far as Kohli.

Marsh shines in big Punjab win

Two wickets off two no balls in Punjab's first two overs, established that luck was riding in Kings XI's direction and the home team ensured they made the most of it. After rampaging their way to huge total of 195 they made sure Rajasthan fell 48 runs short to register their third victory on the trot.

Earlier in the very first over of the game, Siddharth Trivedi got Gilchrist to edge a delivery back onto the stumps. Gilly began walking when the keeper collected the ball and dislodged the stumps as the umpire signaled a no ball. The rule book states that a batsman cannot be run out if he is walking because he thinks he is out. So instead of being back in the hut, the Punjab skipper was in with a free hit that he belted into the boundary.

In the next over Shaun Tait got dangerman Paul Valthaty to edge a delivery to Ross Taylor at third slip and everyone thought the law of averages had caught up with find of IPL 4. But the umpire went upstairs to check if Tait had his foot on the side line and yet again the batsman got a life because of a no ball.

From there on there was no looking back. Valthaty and Gilchrist launched into the Rajasthan bowling attack paying no attention to reputation or seniority. The assault was so ferocious that Punjab crossed the 50-run mark in just 2.5 overs.

It was no surprise when Warne brought himself on to bowl the 4th over. Gilchrist greeted his former teammate with a huge six off his second delivery and by the time he departed departed for 28 in the 5th over Punjab were on 67 and the damage to Rajasthan's confidence had been done.

Shaun Marsh walked in and took over where from where Gilchrist had left off - hitting boundaries at will and taking 21 off Warne's last over that included three humongous sixes. His innings of 71 came off just 42 deliveries.

At the other end, Valthaty continued to ride his luck with good measure. Two of his miscued shots into the air were dropped off consecutive balls, first by Shane Watson and then by Swapnil Asnodkar. He was out for 46 off 31 balls when another mistimed shot off Warne went down Tait's throat.

The Royals pulled things back and picked up some wickets after the 15th over to restrict Punjab to 195-8 after a score of 200 plus looked like a near certainty.

195 was still a tough ask - the tournament's highest total so far and Rajasthan were never quite in the game during their chase. Rahul Dravid hit two beautiful boundaries before giving too himself too much room to a ball from Ryan Harris that took an inside edge onto the stumps.

Swapnil Asnodkar departed soon after, clean bowled by Praveen Kumar. When Shane Watson was out after a quickfire 24, the writing was on the wall. Praveen was the pick of the bowlers for Punjab, giving away just 22 runs off his 4 overs and picking up those two wickets.

Taylor was then sent back for a duck and despite a partnership between Stuart Binny and Ashok Menaria, the Kings XI never really looked threatened. In the end, Rajasthan fell 48 runs short ending their innings at 147-7 and giving Punjab a comprehensive win - their third in a row.

Kings XI Punjab 195 for 7 (Marsh 71, Valthaty 46, Tait 3-22) beat 

Rajasthan Royals 147 for 7 (Praveen 2-22, Bhatt 2-20) by 48 runs

Kochi stifle Kolkata in hard-fought win

Kochi Tuskers Kerala won a battle of attrition against Kolkata Knight Riders on a slow Eden Gardens pitch to move to the third position in the points table. The wicket did not play as low as it did in Kolkata's win against Rajasthan Royals, but it was just as slow, making it difficult for batsmen, and a delight for the spinners.

After Yusuf Pathan and Shakib Al Hasan had taken six wickets for 48 runs between them to restrict Kochi to 132, Kolkata's powerful batting line-up would have fancied the modest chase. But Kochi's own army of spinners - Muttiah Muralitharan, Ramesh Powar and Ravindra Jadeja - stifled the runs though they did not get as many wickets, and ensured the pressure got to the Kolkata batsmen, who fell six runs short.

As it transpired, the performance against the new-ball bowlers was the difference between the two sides. Kolkata's seamers conceded 26 for 0 in their first three overs, while Kochi's fast bowlers dismissed Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir, while conceding only 20 runs in their first four overs. Kallis fell to the hook for the second time running, swinging Vinay Kumar straight to deep square leg. Gambhir played inside the line of a full delivery from RP Singh that straightened and uprooted middle stump as Kolkata began to stutter.

In the next over, Manvinder Bisla drove outside the line of a Jadeja delivery to lose his off stump. Manoj Tiwary and Eoin Morgan tried to work the ball around but the spinners were getting turn, and their different styles posed problems. Muralitharan, back after being left out for the previous two games, varied his flight and angle brilliantly, Jadeja fired the ball in, and Powar stuck to flight as he always does.

The mounting asking-rate led to Morgan charging out of his crease in the 13th over for a non-existent single, and Jayawardene threw down the middle stump with a direct hit. Tiwary took on RP Singh in the next over with consecutive boundaries, but Shakib missed a low full toss off the last ball to be bowled.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala 132 for 7 (Jadeja 29, Yusuf 3-20, Shakib 3-28) beat 

Kolkata Knight Riders 126 for 9 (M Tiwary 46, RP Singh 2-25, Jadeja 2-25) by six runs