Adam Gilchrist did to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, what their opening bat Chris Gayle had done to his Kings XI Punjab the last game that they had played. He overcame a slow start to smack a century and guided his side to such a comfortable win over Bangalore that they are now left with a good chance of making it to the playoffs. 
The Kings XI Punjab had gone into this 63rd game of the Indian Premier League knowing that not only were they against a side which had won seven games in a row, but also that a loss here would end their stay in the tournament. Punjab had, of course, won three games in a row themselves, which had given them a flicker of hope but after batting first on winning the toss and crawling to 30/1 after six overs, life seemed much more difficult.
It was after the six-over mark that Gilchrist went berserk. He started off with a six in the seventh over and followed it up with a six and a four in the eighth off S Aravind. Shaun Marsh, who would later go on to get the Orange Cap for the first time this season, also carved out a six and a four in that over and the side had doubled their score in a matter of two overs.
Gayle was treated with grave disrespect as Gilchrist slammed another couple of sixes off him before slamming Charl Langeveldt for three maximums in a row to take the side to 99/1 in ten overs. Runs flowed in the next four overs as well, with a boundary hit in each of them but it was the 15th over where Punjab pushed the accelerator to the fullest and batted the Bangalore side out of the game.
It was Marsh who took on Johan van der Wath with three sixes and three fours off the same over, slamming 30 in it and propelled the side to 173/1 in 15 overs. Gilchrist got to his century off the last over of the innings and got out, but by then, the side had got to 232 in their 20 overs and the two had added the highest ever 206 runs.
Bangalore needed a huge start from the Gayle to have any kind of a chance to get close to the total. However, the side’s dependence on Gayle came to fore when the left-handed batsman was dismissed for a duck and the rest of the side followed to be bowled out for a paltry 121 in 17 overs.
Gilchrist was the obvious man of the match. Punjab play Deccan in their last game and if they win that one, they will force Kolkata into winning the last two games to stand a chance to qualify.