RCB FEEL THE FINCH
AARON ATTACK LAYS KOHLI & COMPANY LOW
A crafty knock by Aaron Finch saw the Gujarat Lions notch up a muchneeded victory, a sevenwicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Thursday.
Finch hit a match-winning 72 off just 34 to help the Lions avenge their last week’s loss to the Challengers. His stellar innings was studded with five boundaries and six huge sixes. The 30-yearold’s partnership off 92 runs off 49 with skipper Suresh Raina (34 n.o) helped the visitors clinch an important win, to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Meanwhile, the loss sent the home team to the seventh place, with their hopes of making the knockout rounds all but over. Gujarat climbed to sixth position with the win.
Earlier, RCB once again found themselves in hot water after Lions bowled them out for a measly 134, with Andrew Tye leading the bowling with three wickets and Ravindra Jadeja picking up two for the Lions.
It looked like the crushing loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders was still haunting the Challengers, as they failed to build solid partnerships with their top order crumbling like a cookie.
Opening the batting with skipper Virat Kohli (10), Chris Gayle failed with the willow once more as the home team buckled under pressure.
After a slow start, Kohli was the first to walk back to the pavilion. He hit the first boundary for the home team, but that was all the damage that the skipper could do. Looking to find another boundary off a Basil Thampi delivery, Kohli found Aaron Finch at short fine-leg to end his innings.
Gayle quickly followed the captain in the very next over, when Tye picked up his first scalp of the evening. Tye picked up Tim Head’s wicket in the very next, setting himself nicely for a hat-trick. But that was not to be, as Kedar Jadhav took control of the home teams innings, turning things around for a few overs. Jadhav’s swift 31 off 18 balls included four fours and a six. But just as he was starting to look settled with A.B. de Villiers (5) at the other end, Jadeja bowled Jadhav to bring the home team crashing back to earth.
Pawan Negi gave the home crowd something to cheer about, top-scoring for the Challengers, with a knock off 32 off 19 deliveries with three fours and two sixes.