Six swings of the pendulum

For the second time in two matches, Gautam Gambhir utilised the life granted to him by the opposition. In the tournament opener, Mumbai Indians paid dearly for letting off the Kolkata Knight Riders captain when he was just on 1 and the team on 5. Gambhir subsequently helped the defending champions set up a dominating victory with a lot of time to spare.

Today, it was the turn of Royal Challengers Bangalore. Helped by wayward bowling and terrible fielding, the Knight Riders' opening combination of Robin Uthappa and Gambhir had raised a quickfire 53 in the Powerplay overs. Having seen Gambhir dominate spinners, Virat Kohli, Royal Challengers' captain, asked his fast bowlers to bowl short and aggressive. Gambhir did hit and miss on a couple of occasions, but he was not unsettled.

Then, batting on 31, he pulled Abu Nechim reacting to a short delivery. The ball went straight towards AB de Villiers at deep square leg. It was a straightforward catch, but de Villiers seemed to have moved in a wee bit quickly as the ball, to the South African's utter shock, jumped out his hands. Knight Riders were 61 for 0 in the seventh over and by the time Gambhir got out six overs later, the team score had peaked to 103.

On the eve of the match, Kohli said that this season, the trio of Chris Gayle, de Villers and himself would express themselves more freely in the batting order. Kohli walked the talk when he came out to open along with Gayle. This move was a gamble. If Kohli failed, the opposition would immediately score a big psychological point. Chasing a strong target of 178, Royal Challengers were 4 for 0 after two tight opening overs from Morne Morkel and Sunil Narine. In Morkel's second over, Kohli pulled him strong on the front foot for the first six of the innings. But in the South African's third over, going for another pull to a leg-side delivery, Kohli gloved into the hands of Uthappa behind the wicket. Royal Challengers were 29 for 1 after five overs.

In the immediate over after Kohli's departure, Gayle slammed debutant KC Cariappa for a straight six and then a four to help Royal Challengers to 41 for 1 after six overs. Now, the visitors needed a partnership. Dinesh Karthik, the most expensive player bought by the franchise at this auction, was the next man in, and due to his vast experience, Royal Challengers would have been hopeful for a promising stand. However, Karthik tried to cut Yusuf Pathan away from the body and was bowled before he even faced 10 balls. Mandeep Singh then hit a first-ball six to make a bold statement, but he followed it up with a rubbish reverse sweep against Yusuf's off break that went on to his leg stump. Royal Challengers stood precariously placed at 56 for 3 after eight overs.

Unlike in the past, de Villiers had ample time to build an innings having come to bat in the ninth over. And there was Gayle for company. Gambhir and Knight Riders were aware it was still anyone's game with 10 overs left. Knight Riders needed another 101 runs from the final 10. Gayle was on 32. De Villiers had hit a four against Andre Russell in his first over and then charged Yusuf to loft a six to get into double digits. Then came Cariappa, the X-factor for Knight Riders. De Villiers did not care. If there was mystery about Cariappa's spin, it was whether he actually could spin the ball big.

Using the pace that Cariappa was adding to his deliveries, de Villiers cleverly hit two fours in three balls and then a straight six, powering Royal Challengers to 93 by the 12 over. But the next ball, de Villiers stepped out to attempt another straight six, missed it miserably and Uthappa whipped the bails in a flash. De Villiers walked back swiftly in embarrassment.

Gayle was on 33 when de Villiers left. First ball of the next over, delivered by Yusuf, Gayle flicked a full toss to deep square leg. Morkel was positioned there, but fluffed the catch. Ninety-three for 4 could have become 93 for 5 and Knight Riders would have secured the match with eight overs still to go. Instead, Gayle hit a six off the last ball of that Yusuf over to keep the match in balance. In Yusuf's following over, having taken 10 runs with a four and a six, Gayle swept the offspinner but once again waiting in the deep was Morkel. This catch was not straightforward and Morkel had to lung forward, but he still could not pick the ball up successfully. Gayle had been looking for Morkel wherever he fielded and accordingly hit his strokes. He was now on 64.

In contrast to his team-mates, Gayle had been content playing the waiting game. He was making sure he would hit at least one big four every second over, if not every over. Now, with the match entering the final five bracket, he upped the ante. He hit consecutive sixes off Shakib Al Hassan to reduce the margin to 31 from the final three overs. Gambhir then straightway went to his master key: Narine.

So far in the match, Gayle had not bothered his Caribbean team-mate. In fact, he had been beaten on a few occasions by Narine's turn. Gambhir had specifically left Narine for the end. This was the most crucial over. But Narine started with a loose, short delivery, which Gayle pulled between the wide long on and deep mid-wicket fielders. When Gambhir moved deep mid-wicket to his right, Gayle hit another four in the exact spot where the deep mid wicket was standing previous ball. When Harshal Patel jumped out of his crease to hit Narine for a straight six, Royal Challengers needed 14 runs from the final two overs.

Gayle virtually sealed it with a first-ball six from Morkel. It did not matter that he got himself run out the next ball. He had got Royal Challengers across the line. If he had failed, it was falling short of a century by four runs. Even the partisan Kolkata crowd which was only chanting "KKR, KKR" throughout the first innings eventually changed sides and started screaming "RCB, RCB" after Gayle's measured assault.