A strong opening stand of 80 between Chris Gayle and Tillakaratne Dilshan set up Royal Challengers Bangalore to a solid 173 for 3 in Match 57 of IPL 5 against hosts Pune Warriors.
Chris Gayle, already the Orange Cap Holder in IPL 5 helped himself to a cracking 57 from 31 balls with 3 fours and half a dozen sixes. Tillakaratne Dilshan, his opening partner batted out 44 balls to score 53 with 6 fours and a six.
The last three overs of the innings saw RCB collect 35 runs to get to the total they wanted. India ODI discard Saurabh Tiwary remained unbeaten with 36 from 30 balls with 3 fours and a six. AB de Villiers got just the four balls to face towards the end in which he struck a six in an unbeaten 9.
For the homeside, Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews bowled economically for his 1/14 in 3 overs. Pune Warriors had won the toss and asked RCB to bat first. Despite the match starting at 9:00 PM after a delay of an hour because of rain, no overs were deducted.
© BV Swagath
