It was points table stragglers Gujarat Lions taking on the other stragglers, Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot. Was the 14th day of the current IPL and match 20 was played between two teams; both desperate to win. We look at the highlights of the game and a look at the points table as well as the current holders of the Orange and Purple caps.
After winning the toss, skipper Suresh Raina put the Bangalore team in to bat. We finally saw Chris Gayle in mid season form with his characteristic 77 off just 38 balls (5 boundaries, 7 sixes and a strike rate of 202). Skipper Kohli came through with a well paced 64 off 50. Travis Head (30 off 16) and Kedar Jadhav (38 off 16) took the score to 213.
The 10.7 asking rate proved a bit too much for the Gujarat team. Dwayne Smith got out early having scored just one run. Though Brendon McCullum fought hard and put up 72 off 44 it was in vain. Raina made a blistering 23 off 8 balls but was out before he could do more. Ravindra Jadeja (23 off 22) and Ishan Kishan (39 off 16) were the other significant contributors. Ultimately GL fell short by 21 runs to lose a home match.
Mandeep Singh won the award for the perfect catch. Chris Gayle was Man of the Match as well as winner of the Maximum Sixes (though McCullum made the same number of sixes, Gayle’s were bigger and went further). The Stylish player award went to Yuzvendra Chahal.
Points table so far
Kolkata Knight Riders are at the top of the table currently with their 4 wins from 5 matches. Mumbai Indians have a similar number of wins but are behind in the net run rate. After yesterday, RCB find themselves at no. 6 with two wins from their 6 matches. GL are at the bottom with just one win.
Warner (SRH) has amassed 235 runs so far and holds the Orange Cap. Brendon McCullum (GL) with 225 runs and Manish Pandey (KKR) with 221 follow him.
After his spectacular performance of 5 for 19 against the Kings XI Punjab team, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH) is currently the holder of the Purple Cap for taking 15 wickets in the tournament so far.
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