Bangalore Beat Pune Warriors by 17 runs

Pune: Robin Uthappa's fighting knock of 75 went in vain as Royal Challengers Bangalore restricted Pune Warriors India to 170/9 to clinch 17-run victory in IPL 6 match.

The hosts managed to contain the Gayle storm but contrasting half-centuries from opener Saurabh Tiwary and South African AB de Villiers helped RCB post a daunting 187 for three.

Tiwary's well-paced 52 at the top compensated for Gayle's cheap dismissal while de Villiers' pyrotechnics towards the end, an unbeaten 50 from 23 balls (6x4, 2x6), decimated the Warriors.

Pune found it difficult to lift themselves after de Villiers' brilliant late assault and ended up with 170/9.

The lone bright spot of the evening for the Warriors was Robin Uthappa's rearguard 75. The Bangalorean's 45-ball innings (5x4, 5x6) and his 63-run partnership with Angelo Mathews (32) gave a glimmer of hope for Warriors but in the end it wasn't enough.

Murali Kartik (2-29) and Vinay Kumar (3-31) continued to impress with the ball, the latter improving his tally to 18 scalps to be second on the leading wicket-takers' list.

For both Tiwary and de Villiers, it was their first half-century of the season. Tiwary, playing only his fifth match of the season, kept the scoreboard ticking after Gayle's fall with two fours and two sixes during his 45-ball knock. Gayle fell for a 21-ball 21.

Earlier, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat.

Warriors made two changes, bringing in Ajantha Mendis and Angelo Mathews in place of Luke Wright and Kane Richardson.

Teams:

Pune Warriors India: Robin Uthappa (wk), Aaron Finch (capt), Tirumalasetti Suman, Yuvraj Singh, Steven Smith, Angelo Mathews, Abhishek Nayar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Ajantha Mendis

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Lokesh Rahul, Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli (capt), AB de Villiers, Moises Henriques, Saurabh Tiwary, Arun Karthik (wk), R Vinay Kumar, Murali Kartik, Muttiah Muralitharan, RP Singh

Brief scores
Royal Challengers Bangalore 187 for 3 (Tiwary 52, de Villiers 50*)
Pune Warriors 170 for 9 (Uthappa 75, Vinay 3-31)
Result Royal Challengers Bangalore won by 17 runs
Points Royal Challengers Bangalore 2, Pune Warriors 0
MOM AB de Villiers (Royal Challengers Bangalore)