Bangalore beat Pune to garner first away win in IPL 6

A rollicking 23-ball-50 by AB de Villiers gave Royal Challengers Bangalore hard fought win over Pune Warriors India in the 46th match of the Indian Premier League 2013, being played in Pune here on Thursday.
R Vinay Kumar (3/31) continued to impress in the tournament while Murali Kartik (2/29) too was exceptional on the day. (BCCI Image)

Even Robin Uthappa's 75 from 45 balls, his first fifty of the season, was not enough to propel the home side, who are all but out of contention for a place in the play-offs. On the other hand, Bangalore consolidate their second position on the table with 14 points from 11 games. (BCCI Image)

Chris Gayle and RCB's new opener Saurabh Tiwary started off cautiously after the visiting side won the toss and chose to bat. Virat Kohli, at the toss, said that he expected the pitch to become slow as the game progresses. (BCCI Image)

After the powerplay overs (six), Bangalore managed just managed 30 but without the loss of a wicket. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ajantha Mendis, replacing Kane Richardson, started off with tight overs for the home side. (BCCI Image)

Right after the initial period of being tied down, Gayle was 'fed' part-timer Tirumalasetti Suman by Pune skipper Aaron Finch. The burly West Indian responded with a massive straight six off the second ball of Suman's over. That probably spurred Gayle on but to the credit of the off-spinner, he gave the ball some air again. The same shot was tried but a little spin on the ball meant a bit of an outside edge. Bhuvneshwar completed a good running catch. Pune had got the 'big fish' for 21. The same batsman had destroyed them with a 175* on April 23. (BCCI Image)

Pune had got the 'big fish' for 21. The same batsman had destroyed them with a 175* on April 23. (BCCI Image)

Virat Kohli then joined Tiwary at the crease, who was beginning to cut loose. A four and six off Mendis gave necessary impetus to Bangalore's innings. (BCCI Image)

Mathews, who had stood aside from Pune's captaincy today itself, then bowled a shocking over to hand the visitors easy runs. One wide down the leg and one wide of off, meant that Robin Uthappa could not do anything to stop 10 free runs to leak.

Kohli then blasted Yuvraj Singh for 16 in an over to grab the initiative or so it seemed. (BCCI Image)

This was when Pune bowlers brought their team back into the game. First, Rahul Sharma bowled a tight one and then Ashok Dinda's brilliant over forced a false shot from Kohli, who tried to hit a straight one across the line. Dinda had him castled for 25 off 18 balls. (BCCI Image)

Tiwary then completed his first half-century in RCB colours but was dismissed soon after, trying to be too cheeky off Dinda, only handing the simplest of chances to Sharma at short fine. Dinda was on a hat-trick then. (BCCI Image)

De Villiers and Moises Henriques then combined to turn the game around again as Bangalore hit 68 runs off the last 4.5 overs to set up a formidable total for Pune to chase. (BCCI Image)

De Villiers was just 'out of this world' in his blistering knock of 50 from 23 deliveries. (BCCI Image)

Pune did not have the best of starts, losing skipper Aaron Finch just after he had hit Moises Henriques for a brilliant six over mid-wicket. The Australian dasher went for another hoick but perished as the ball hit his inside edge and on to the stumps. He scored 15 from 11 balls. (BCCI Image)

Uthappa and Tirumalasetti Suman then got together to recover from the early jolt but the latter was dismissed run-out when he misjudged a Muttiah Muralitharan throw. Square-leg umpire did not even require the services of the TV umpire. Suman scored 11 off 14 balls. (BCCI Image)

Yuvraj Singh and Uthappa then tried hard to maintain the momentum with the required run-rate climbing up all the time. They added 31 runs in 4 overs before Yuvraj tried a flat-batted pull off Vinay Kumar, only to give a simple catch to De Villiers at long-on. His promising innings of 16 from 11 was cut short yet again. (BCCI Image)

Pune never got the chance to breathe and recover as Steve Smith, who got off to a brilliant start earlier in the tournament, was dismissed caught behind in the same Kumar over. He scored just 4. (BCCI Image)

Just like while bowling, Pune batsmen - Uthappa and Angelo Mathews - then fought back to bring the home side roaring back into the game. The batsman from Karnataka, who had seen wickets falling by wayside, kept going and later opened up to score a blistering fifty. (BCCI Image)

Mathews, who had relinquished the Pune captaincy earlier in the day, too brought his A-game to the fore. From 81/4 after 11 overs, the pair took the score to 144/4 in 16, 63 runs added in the short period of time. Mathews hit 3 sixes - 2 off Muralitharan and 1 off Murali Kartik before a diving effort at backward point by Chris Gayle accounted for the Sri Lankan. His 32 off 19 balls, though, ensured that Pune at least had a go at the stiff target. (BCCI Image)