On this day in 2015: Gayle’s 96 carries RCB to a win against KKR

Often, the opening game of a season is the most difficult one. Under such circumstances, it is usually an extraordinary individual brilliance that wins the game. In the 2015 season, RCB opened their campaign against the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at the iconic Eden Gardens. KKR began their innings extremely well. Having been put in to bat, the Knight Riders’ openers Gambhir and Uthappa put on 81 at a decent clip. Kolkata, however, could not capitalize on the fabulous platform set by the openers. The middle overs passed by in a lull, without the scoring rate being accelerated. Two wickets in two balls at the beginning of the 17th over, first a pull finding Mandeep at deep square-leg to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav, and then a direct hit sending back Manish Pandey off the very next ball saw Kolkata crashing down to 131/4. 

Kolkata still had some power left in the tank. A late innings onslaught by the Caribbean monster Andre Russell during which he smashed the ball to the boundary eight times, including clearing it twice had propelled the KKR score to 177. RCB’s task was not going to be easy.

Gayle kept his calm and targeted specific bowlers perfectly on his way to 96(56)

If 178 was going to be a tough total to chase, it was made even more difficult when Kohli gloved a Morne Morkel bouncer to Uthappa behind the stumps. The chase master was gone and RCB still needed 149 in 91 balls. Dinesh Karthik and Mandeep Singh soon followed, both dismissed in a single over by Yusuf Pathan, with the score at 56 after 8 overs. If RCB were to garner any hopes of a win, they needed their two superstars to fire. Gayle, who was holding fort but was struggling to break free against the KKR spinners and AB De Villiers who had just arrived had to put together something substantial. 

De Villiers kicked off like a freight train. He smashed Russell for two boundaries in an over, then deposited Yusuf Pathan over the fence. Two boundaries and a six off Cariappa in the next over later, RCB looked back in the game. The anticipation was of another De Villiers special. However, it all ended in an anti-climax. AB, high on confidence charged the next ball only to find himself beaten and Uthappa effecting a smart stumping; Cariappa had gotten his maiden IPL wicket, that too of AB de Villiers.

With de Villiers gone, the onus was on Gayle to take the team close to the target along with his West Indian teammate Darren Sammy. Gayle powered one over the sight-screen to signal his intent. He was not mucking around anymore. Chawla endured the same treatment as Gayle was beginning to flex his muscles. Gayle got to his 50 off 37 balls, now looking like he was ready to be his destructive self. One would have through Sammy’s dismissal would make Gayle go into his shell again. However, on Gayle, it had the opposite effect. It just made him more resolute to keep hitting the ball out of the park. 

The first ball of Pathan’s last over was pulled to the boundary, and a wide fuller delivery was deposited well over long-off. Gayle kept his calm and targeted specific bowlers even as wickets kept falling around him. Sean Abbot fell off the first ball of the 17th over from Shakib Al Hasan, but Gayle lodged two more sixers in the same over to bring the required runs down to 31 off the last 3 overs.

Gayle’s biggest challenge was going to be Sunil Narine. Gambhir recognized the moment. He decided to use his trump card. This was the contest that would decide the game. Gayle came out well on top. First, he pulled the ball and then swept the next, both along the carpet, the two shots resulting in 8 runs off the first two balls. The pressure of the required rate was gone. All he had to do was not give his wicket away and the game was as good as won. Gayle took the sensible route, kept knocking Narine around. With 20 required off 13 balls, RCB found an unlikely hero in Harshal Patel with the bat. The Haryana medium-pacer had to survive the last ball of Narine’s spell; instead, he decided to take him on and succeeded.

With 14 needed off two overs, Gayle pummelled Morkel over long-on; 8 to win off 11. With Gayle on 95 and only 8 needed, he pulled the next to deep mid-wicket. The shot looked like it had cleared the boundary, but for the brilliance of Manish Pandey, who flew to catch the ball one-handed, and had the presence of mind to throw the ball in, get back up and effect a run-out. Chris Gayle falling short of the crease. The game was still not over, 7 needed off 10 with the tail-enders facing a fiery Morne Morkel. Harshal Patel and Abu Nechim Ahmed, the Indian pace bowling duo handled the situation nervelessly, as they looked for singles and a top-edged boundary off the last ball of the 19th over gave RCB a famous win. Chris Gayle was adjudged the Player of the Match for single-handedly taking RCB to victory with a 56-ball 96.