Frenzied fans hope local Royals will fire

Bangalore, May 11 (IANS): Cricket-crazy fans here appear to be more desperate than home team Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for a win over Rajasthan Royals in the IPL7 league tie at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium here.

Disappointed by the home team’s back-to-back defeats last week against Mumbai Indians on May 6 in Mumbai and Kings XI Punjab Friday here, the fans have been hoping that explosive batters like Chris Gayle, captain Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh would return to form to treat them with a flurry of sixes and fours.

“We hope the hosts will click against Royals at least as their performance this year has been lacklustre so far and poorer in form than last year. With only three wins out of eight games so far, the home team is struggling to retain form in batting, bowling and fielding though they had a good start in the UAE winning the first two matches,” said Uday Kumar, a college student, who came from Mysore to watch the match.

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But royal let down by Kohli and Gayle again

It was another let down by Kohli and Gayle as they failed to click against Royals on a cloudy and breezy night under floodlights.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Kohli opted to open the innings in place of wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel with Gayle, ostensibly to give a flying start to the struggling team.

Alas! That was not to be as both batters struggled to face some tight bowling by Kane Richardson and Shane Watson of Royals.

“More than Kohli, it is very disappointing to see Gayle failing to click again on the home turf in this tournament. Though he could not play in the first four games due to back injury, he has not fired this time either in the last two games here (May 4 against Sunrisers and Punjab May 9 and against Mumbai May 6) as last year with his mighty sixes and fours,” said spectator Imtiaz Ahmed.

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Vintage Yuvraj returns to form, sets stands on fire

Yuvraj Singh, who was bought for a whopping Rs. 14 crore by RCB owner Vijay Mallya in this year’s auction, was back in his elements after a disappointing show in the last six games, as he set the stand on fire with a cameo innings of 83 runs in 38 balls with seven mighty sixes and seven fours.

“It’s a great relief to see Yuvi return to form, more so when his bruised team needed him badly to fire for keeping its chances in playoffs alive. His fiery batting lifted our spirits and was worth the money we paid to watch the match from pavilion,” said Murali Krishnan, a techie with a multinational company.