Match 24th IPL 2011 : Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore {Royal Challengers Bangalore's nine-wicket win over home fa­vourites Kolkata Knight Riders}

    WINNER

Gayle storm ::

        Gayle’s unb­eaten 55-ball 102 powered his new team Royal Challe­ngers Bangalore to an upset nine-wicket win over home fa­vourites Kolkata Knight Riders here at the Eden Gardens on Friday.
  The West Indies opener smashed 10 fours and seven si­xes to revive the sagging morale of RCB, who returned to the winning ways after th­r­ee defeats and a washout ga­me. The emphatic win he­l­ped Daniel Vettori’s RCB jump from the bottom of the table to the fifth position with five points from six ma­tches. Vettori chose to bowl first winning the toss. Chasing a stiff target of 171, the Bangalore side clinc­h­ed victory with 11 balls to sp­are. 
      

Tillakaratne Dilshan (38) and Virat Kohli (30) provided excellent support to Gayle, who walked away with the Man-of-the-Match award. Gayle and Dilshan ga­ve RCB an explosive start, stitching together 123 runs in 12.1 overs. After the latter was bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji, Gayle added 52 runs for the unbroken seco­nd wicket stand with Kohli to hand KKR their second su­ccessive defeat at home.  KKR’s formidable spin attack came a cropper against the ruthless onslaught. Sk­ipper Gautam Gambhir’s de­cision to rest Aussie sp­eeds­ter Brett Lee proved su­icidal. The weakness in the bowling attack was compou­nded further as Jacques Kallis stayed away from bowling. Earlier, riding on splendid performance by the top ord­er batsmen, Knight Riders  compiled a healthy total of 171 for five. Kallis returned to form after two failures, ma­­king a steady 40 off 42, Gambhir cracked a 38-ball 48, Yusuf Pathan powered his way to 46 off 24, Haddin contributed an 11-ball 18. The KKR innings prospe­red thanks to two impressive partnerships. Kallis and Ha­ddin gave them a decent fo­undation, putting on 44 runs for the opening wicket, while Gambhir and Kallis stabilised the position adding 58 runs for the second wicket.Pathan’s knock was his be­st in the current editi­on of the IPL and assumed greater im­portance as he defied a kn­­ee injury and noticeable pa­in to play for the cause of the team.