The Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered their sixth defeat in nine matches as they went down to the Gujarat Lions by seven wickets.
Last year’s IPL finalists had a tough time of it last year, and that has now been compounded by being bowled out in consecutive matches for the first time in their history, against a side they thrashed just over a week ago.
It leaves Virat Kohli’s side second from bottom with only two wins to their name, and with five matches left of the group stages for them they’re probably going to have to win all of their remaining games to be in with a shout, just as they did towards the end of last season.
The Gujarat Lions started the season terribly, but they’re starting to show some of the form that saw them win the group stages last season, in what was their best bowling performance of the season by far.
There were more failures at the top of the order for RCB as Chris Gayle (8), Kohli (10), De Villiers (5) and Travis Head (0) all went cheaply. De Villiers only had himself to blame for his wicket and he ran hesitantly towards the striker’s end when a run was never on. A direct hit from Ravindran Jadeja proved the end of him.
The man doing most of the damage was Australian paceman Andrew Tye, whose 5-19 in his first IPL appearance was the best ever figures by a debutant. He took 3-12 off his four overs on Thursday night, accounting for Gayle, Head and Mandeep Singh (8).
The only meaningful contributions came from Kedhar Jadhav (31) and Pawan Negi (32) as they clawed together 134 all out.
RCB were well in at the beginning of the chase, as West Indian spinner Samuel Badree saw off Ishan Kishan (16) and Brendon McCullum off his second and third over. But Aaron Finch wrecked their hopes very quickly.
Finch blasted two sixes off his first three balls, and 19 balls later he was on fifty, the fastest half-century by a Lions player in the IPL. To place this in context, Suresh Raina, who came in before him, was still on five only.
You can bet on upcoming IPL games on Betway Cricket Betting
Raina departed for 11, but the umpire called him back for a no-ball from Yuzvendra Chahal. The skipper would be the only one to see his side over the line at the end on 34 from 30, after Finch had already lost his wicket for 72 off 34 balls. They did it with 6.1 overs still left.
Photo: Prashant Bhoot/IPL/Cricinfo
