Gayle puts RCB atop

A focused Chris Gayle has his eyes fixed on the ball as he helped Royal Challengers Bangalore finish top of the league by beating Chennai Super Kings in their IPL match at Bangalore yesterday.

Chris Gayle smashed an unbeaten 75 as Royal Challengers Bangalore topped the points table with an eight-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

The West Indies opener hit six sixes in his 50-ball knock as Bangalore surpassed Chennai's total of 128-8 with two overs to spare in their last league match of the Twenty20 tournament.

Gayle, who added 80 for the second wicket with Virat Kohli (31), finished the match when he hit spinner Suresh Raina for 11 runs off the last three balls of the 18th over.

Bangalore (19 points), Chennai (18), Kolkata (16) and Mumbai (16) have already qualified for the play-offs. They are followed by Punjab (14), Rajasthan (13), Deccan (12), Kochi (12), Pune (nine) and Delhi (nine).

Chennai skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit six sixes in his explosive 40-ball 70 not out but received little support from the other end, the highest stand of the innings being 42 for the fifth wicket.

SCORES IN BRIEF
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS: 128-8 in 20 overs (Dhoni 70 not out, Saha 22; Vettori 2-15, Zaheer 2-19, Aravind 2-20)

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: 129-2 in 18 overs (Gayle 75 not out, Kohli 31)

Result: Royal Challengers Bangalore won by eight wickets.

Man-of-the-match: Chris Gayle.