Chris Gayle was in blistering form again as the Bangalore Royal Challengers consolidated their top-four position in the Indian Premier League table with a nine-wicket win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala.
Gayle, who struck 107 from 49 balls on Friday against Kings XI Punjab, this time powered his way to 44 in 16 balls as Bangalore chased 126 for victory, with Tillakaratne Dilshan (52 from 31 balls) and Virat Kohli (27) leading them home in just 13.1 overs.
Brendon McCullum (22) led a profitable opening period for visitors Kochi, as he and Michael Klinger built a solid 43 together but their promising start was halted by two wickets apiece for the Bangalore captain, Daniel Vettori, and Sreenath Aravind.
McCullum was then caught off Vettori, while Klinger (24) was bowled by Gayle and Kochi were in trouble at 73 for four as Vettori dispatched Mahela Jayawardene and the wicketkeeper AB de Villiers' acrobatics ran out Parthiv Patel for 19.
It slowed the run rate considerably and allowed Aravind to remove Brad Hodge and Raiphi Gomez as Ravindra Jadeja's fighting 23 helped Kochi reach 125 before losing two more wickets in the final over.
Bangalore's batting was once again dominated by Gayle, who smashed five sixes and three fours off the hapless Kochi attack alongside Dilshan.
Gayle's departure to Vinay Kumar only delayed the inevitable for Kochi, as Dilshan picked up his pace to reach 50 in 30 deliveries while Kohli provided able support in the 61-run stand, hitting the winning boundary off Prasanth Parameswaran.
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