Gujarat Lions devour helpless challengers

Bengaluru, April 27

Riding on Andrew Tye’s three-wicket haul and Aaron Finch’s whirlwind fifty, Gujarat Lions notched up a comfortable seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore here today. Chasing 135 to win, Gujarat lost both openers —  Ishan Kishan (16) and Brendon McCullum (3) — cheaply but Finch’s 34-ball 72, studded with five fours and six sixes, took them home with 6.1 overs to spare.

Earlier, Tye’s three-wicket haul triggered a top-order collapse, and Bangalore were bowled out for 134. Tye, who had taken a hat-trick on his IPL debut, removed Chris Gayle and Travis Head on successive balls after Basil Thampi had dismissed skipper Virat Kohli, leaving the hosts at 22/3 in the fifth over. Besides Tye, Ravindra Jadeja snapped up two wickets, while Basil Thampi (1/34) and Ankit Soni (1/28) picked up one wicket each in a disciplined bowling performance. For RCB, Pawan Negi (32) and Kedar Jadhav (31) were the top-scorers.

With this loss, the playoff door is fast closing for Bangalore; they have just five points from nine matches now. As for Gujarat, the win will keep them afloat in the tournament. 

We need to play positive cricket, says Kohli 

Bangalore skipper Kohli said his team needs to play positive cricket to snap their losing streak. “It is never easy to lose games. Tonight was not clinical. We need to get better with our performances. You got to come out and play with intent,” Kohli said.

“We tried to do it with the bat. The only way to come out of it is to play positive cricket. We are putting too much pressure on the team. Individuals need to stand up and take responsibility.” — PTI