IPL 10: Match 20, Who Said What: Gujarat Lions v Royal Challengers Bangalore

Gujarat Lions hosted the Royal Challengers Bangalore at Rajkot in the 20th match of the IPL. Both teams needed a win desperately as the teams came off big defeats. Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to field first. After a dry season with the bat for the RCB in this edition, the floodgates finally opened for them as Gayle and Kohli fired in tandem to set the match up for their team with the help of a monumental partnership.

Gayle scored a lighting 77 off 38 deliveries at a strike rate of  202. The Jamaican hit seven mammoth sixes and five boundaries. During the course of his innings, he brought up 10000 runs in T20 cricket. Kohli played a captain’s knock and continued his good form with the bat after his comeback. He scored a vital 50-ball 64 which dazzled with seven boundaries and one six. The finishing touch was provided by Travis Head and Kedar Jadhav who scored a quickfire 30 and 38 respectively.  Jadhav’s explosive innings was laced with 5 fours and 2 sixes. Head and Jadhav ensured that RCB completed their innings with a monumental 213 with the bat.

Chasing a huge total, Suresh Raina and Brendon McCullum gave a perfect start to their innings as the Kiwi anchored the innings with his 72 off 44 balls. In the hindsight, the Lions needed one big partnership to support McCullum. But every batsman came and lost their wicket due to a demanding asking rate.

Ishan Kishan made a strong case for himself for his promotion up the order as he almost threatened to chase down the target on his own. He scored an impressive 16-ball 39 at an astounding strike rate of 243, which comprised of four gigantic maximums. In the end, it was the RCB who came out victorious as Gujarat Lions fell short of the required target by 21 runs in a run-fest. Chris Gayle was nominated as the man of the match for his dominating innings.

Chris Gayle

Gayle adored his new nickname of ‘Universe Boss’. The Jamaican stated that his job is to entertain the crowd and he was glad he could achieve his goal by scoring runs. He seemed elated after reaching the 10k mark in T20 cricket. He also specified about the changes he had to make in his technique and mentioned that it’s never too late to teach an old dog a new trick. He concluded by enlisting his achievements in all the formats of the game.

I like that name (“Universe Boss”). He’s back. It’s good to be among the runs. It’s even better to be back on the field. Fans want entertainment, and I am glad I am able to do that. It all depends on how you feel. Determination is very important. To achieve 10000 runs is a special achievement and to pull it off in a win even better. A lot of guys have pointed a few things about my batting stance when I scored that 175. Even Shaun Pollock from South Africa sent me a few pictures of my stance. Guys back home also mentioned it. You are never too old to learn. Eventually it paid off in the form of runs. People are still looking out for Chris Gayle; it feels fantastic. Two triples (in Tests) and a double in fifty overs. Universe Boss is still alive. Looking forward to beating KKR.”

Virat Kohli

Kohli mentioned that he is reaching a state of mind where the injury or the heavy strapping is not playing on his mind. He also commented that the injury hasn’t changed the way he fields. Kohli also had few words for the 10k man.

There’s a lot of strapping on the shoulder. I have to stop thinking about it. It holds me back. Stopping runs at the end is important. Two important points won. I have played all my life like that, I thought I wouldn’t change my attitude (on his fielding). Gayle took his opportunity beautifully. If he bats like that, it allows me to play through the innings and then accelerate late. We were about 30 runs above par and that exactly was the case.

Kohli continued by saying that his spinners (Negi and Chahal) were exceptional. Virat also commented that his leg spinner is brave-natured who’s not frightened to go for runs.

Chahal is the wrist spinner, he’s always in the game, but Negi was outstanding. Beautiful bowling by him. Not many people were believing in his abilities but he’s come back well. The plus point with Chahal is that he’s not scared. He’s never shy to get hit for runs. He sometimes will get hit, but will get you wickets too. On good wickets, you need bowlers who can step up. Chris took the initiative and anything in his arc was out of the park. He’s the most dangerous T20 player around.

Suresh Raina

The Gujarat Lions skipper took heart from their batting performance even though they fell short of the required target but focussed on improvement in the bowling department. Raina was reminiscent about the time when they gave away 180 odd runs in the past edition of the IPL.

200 was a pretty good score, but we still batted well. But despite it being par, I felt it was difficult to chase on this wicket. We need to improve our bowling a lot. We gave them 185 in 15 overs in an earlier game and we need to learn a lot. We are lagging quite a bit in the tournament. The spinners need to read the wicket, they need to change the pace and bowl slow. The bowlers are practicing hard but they are not able to execute their plans in the game. From here on if we can win a couple of games we can come back. Jadeja needs someone to support him from the other end.

Raina was all praises for young Ishan Kishan as he hoped that the left-hander would represent in the Indian team soon. However, Raina cited out that the team needed a finisher to seal the win.

He needs to vary his pace and he is a mature bowler, he has done very well for us, for CSK and in Test cricket as well. Shivil did well for us in the last season but is pretty inexperienced. Ishan Kishan is a great prospect for the Indian team. He’s worked very hard on his batting, led India in the under-19s and has done well in the First Class games as well. He’s talking to the coaches and I want him to enjoy his cricket and go out there to express himself. Though we lost a couple of wickets in between, had someone been out there in the end, we could have done it.

The Royal Challengers moved to the sixth position in the table with four points while Gujarat Lions replaced them in the bottom. Gujrat Lions face the Kolkata Knight Riders next in their fortress at Eden Gardens on 21st whereas the RCB face them two days later.