Gaylestorm came to the fore yet again in the Indian Premier League, as two of the greatest ever players to play the game took the first steps towards creating an opening partnership that is right out of fantasyland.
Chris Gayle was at his ruthless best, scoring a brilliant unbeaten 92 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, to lead the home side to a two-run victory over the Mumbai Indians, who opened their innings with Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting.
Tendulkar and Ponting, playing together for the first time, and chasing a target of 157, put on 52 for the opening wicket, giving the fans a taste of what is to come for the rest of IPL-6.
However, Mumbai stumbled for a bit after losing their openers, before Dinesh Karthik's fireworks brought them back into the game.
Tendulkar (23 in 19) and Ponting began solidly, taking their time before increasing the scoring rate with some typically wonderful shots, that only the duo can play.
The Indian great, though, got run out unfortunately while just looking to cut loose, before Ponting followed suit a couple of overs later, stumped by Arun Karthik off the bowling of Murali Kartik for a 33-ball 28.
Rohit Sharma, expectedly, gave his wicket away for absolutely no reason, before the third Karthik in the game - Dinesh -- and Ambati Rayudu attempted to chase down the target, needing well over ten runs an over.
The turning point seemed to have come in the 17th over, when Karthik (60, 37b, 3x4, 4x6) went berserk on Daniel Christian, hitting the medium pacer for three straight sixes, in an over, which yielded a massive 23 runs.
The wicketkeeper-batsman, who had just reached his half-century, was in the mood now, and continued his power hitting by smashing Muttiah Muralitharan for a maximum off the very first ball of the next over.
Mumbai now needed just 17 from 12 balls, but there was still some drama to come yet.
Unadkat bowled a good over to restrict Mumbai to just seven runs in the 19th, which meant the away side needed ten off the final one.
After a run was taken off the first ball, Vinay Kumar produced a brilliant couple of deliveries, picking up the wickets of Karthik and Rayudu.
The onus was now on Kieron Pollard, with Mumbai needing eight from two, and the West Indian all-rounder smashed the penultimate ball for a four down the ground. Pollard could not find a second straight boundary, though, as RCB celebrated a thrilling win.
Earlier, it was the Chris Gayle show for the Royal Challengers Bangalore - there is no team in the IPL that depend on one man as much as RCB does on the big West Indian - as the Gayle played an absolute blinder to help RCB to the competitive total, which eventually proved to be more than enough.
Gayle and Tillakratne Dilshan opened the batting, and had to endure a brilliant first over from Mitchell Johnson, who took full advantage of the pitch that offered some seam movement to the bowlers.
Dilshan survived the opening couple of overs, but never really looked comfortable in the middle and it was no surprise when his eight ball stay, without yielding a run, ended with Johnson clean bowling him with a full and straight delivery.
RCB's new captain Virat Kohli (24, 14b, 4x4, 1x6) came in and began in typically confident style, flicking his first delivery for a boundary to backward square. A six off Munaf Patel in the next over followed, before one of many interesting little battles of the game unfolded.
Mumbai had picked a raw young fast bowler named Jaspreet Bumrah, who has yet to make his first class debut, and his first four balls did not go exactly to plan, as Kohli lent into the teenager, smashing him for three boundaries.
The greatest strength of the IPL has always been the platform that it provides for unknown youngsters to shine, and Bumrah had the last laugh against the Indian first teamer, catching the elegant right-hander in front of the wicket with a quick delivery that darted in off an angle.
Bumrah picked up a couple more wickets - of Mayank Agarwal and Karun Nair -- to complete a dream debut, as the Gaylestorm hit the Chinnaswamy with some force.
The Jamaican left-hander, who hit Bumrah for a four and six in the youngster's third over, was a little lucky to survive a strong lbw appeal off the bowling of fellow West Indian Kieron Pollard, before slamming his international teammate for two fours and a six, the pick of them a swat over long on which reached the top tier with utter ease.
Gayle, whose innings included 92 from a mere 58 balls, injured himself while clashing with Harbhajan Singh, who was going for a catch off his own bowling, at the non-striker's end; but then, running is not exactly in Gayle's itinerary now is it.
The two-time reigning Orange Cap holder, continued his boundary hitting with little regard to the bowlers, racing to 92 from a mere 58 balls, with a flat six over point off the last delivery of the innings to take RCB to 156 for five.
