Chris Gayle smashed 82 not out to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to a nine-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians Wednesday and top the list of run-scorers in the Indian Premier League this season. Gayle now has 515 runs to overtake Virender Sehwag (468) after hitting six sixes and five fours in 59 balls. Bangalore restricted Mumbai to 141-6 at Wankhede Stadium and then scored 142-1 in 18 overs. Gayle, who was dropped on 21 by West Indian compatriot Dwayne Smith off Harbhajan Singh, added 94 in an unbroken second-wicket stand with captain Virat Kohli (36 not out). He struck three consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha and perfectly executed the pull shot off the pace bowlers. “We knew we had to see off (Lasith) Malinga early on and then build the innings,” Gayle said. “We were expecting two overs upfront from him but he bowled three.” Earlier, seamer Vinay Kumar and spinner Muttiah Muralitharan came up with timely wickets after Mumbai had been sent in to bat. Opener James Franklin (1) and Rohit Sharma (0) fell cheaply to Kumar. Franklin slashed at a delivery and was caught by Zaheer Khan at third man, while Sharma was trapped lbw three deliveries later as Mumbai was reduced to 2-2 in the second over. Sachin Tendulkar hit three successive fours off Kumar in his innings of 24, and Dinesh Karthik scored 44 from 39 balls to steady the innings. Muralitharan dismissed Karthik and Dwayne Smith in consecutive balls, but unbeaten cameos from West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard and Harbhajan took Mumbai to a competitive score.
