BANGALORE: Chris Gayle hammered 36 runs in an over in his 16-ball 44 to fire Royal Challengers Bangalore to a nine-wicket win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala in an Indian Premier League match Sunday. The West Indies batsman put on 67 for the opening wicket off just 3.5 overs with Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan (52 not out off 31 balls) as Bangalore achieved a modest 126-run target with more than six overs to spare. In another match, skipper Yuvraj Singh hit a 15-ball 35 as Pune Warriors beat Kings XI Punjab by five wickets to post their third win in 10 games of the Twenty20 tournament. Mumbai has already made sure of the semifinals with 16 points. It is followed by Kolkata (14), Bangalore (13), Chennai (12), Rajasthan (11), Kochi (10), Delhi (eight), Pune (six), Deccan (six) and Punjab (six). Brief scores: Kochi Tuskers Kerala 125-9 in 20 overs (M. Klinger 24, R. Jadeja 23, B. McCullum 22; S. Aravind 2-20, D. Vettori 2-24). Royal Challengers Bangalore 128-1 in 13.1 overs (T. Dilshan 52 not out, C. Gayle 44, V. Kohli 27 not out). Kings XI Punjab 119-8 in 20 overs (S. Marsh 32, D. Karthik 30, P. Valthaty 23; W. Parnell 2-12, B. Kumar 2-14, R. Sharma 2-17, M. Marsh 2-26). Pune Warriors 120-5 in 17.1 overs (Yuvraj Singh 35, M. Pandey 28, R. Uthappa 22; S. Srivastava 2-20). – Agence France
