The left-handed opener smashed a 47-ball 89 to help
Bangalore post a solid 185-4 after being put in to bat in the night game at the
M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Last year's finalists Mumbai reached 142-8 in 20 overs.
New Zealand spinner Daniel Vettori took 3-19 while pacer
Sreenath Aravind and left-arm spinner Syed Mohammad chipped in with two each.
Bangalore, finalists in 2009, meet defending champions
Chennai Super Kings in the final on Saturday.
In-form Gayle hit nine fours and five sixes and put on 113
for the opening wicket in 10.3 overs with Mayank Agarwal (41) to give Bangalore
a spectacular start.
Gayle, who hit two centuries this IPL season, lashed Abu
Nechim for a six and three fours as the medium-pacer went for 27 runs in the
opening over of the innings.
Gayle reached his third fifty with a fierce pull to the
fence off pacer Kieron Pollard and then lashed a six off Nechim as Bangalore
raced to 111 without loss after 10 overs.
“Lasith (Malinga) and Harbhajan (Singh) are their key
bowlers so I was looking to be a bit tentative against them,” Gayle said after
picking up his sixth man of the match award of the season.
“The outfield was very quick and wicket was good to bat on,
it held up a bit when they chased, so we don't know what to expect tomorrow,”
he added.
Agarwal was caught at long on while attempting to flat-bat
Pollard.
Gayle, the season's leading run-getter with 608 runs, hit
two successive sixes off Harbhajan before he was caught at long on by James
Franklin while attempting to hit pacer Munaf Patel with the score at 148 in
14.4 overs.
“It is a continuation of how we have played most of the
season,” Bangalore skipper Vettori said. “It's certainly not easy to bowl to
Gayle, he has been a great asset for us,” he added.
Virat Kohli fell for eight playing-on to Nechim and Patel
had Luke Pomersbach caught by Lasith Malinga at short third-man for four to
apply the brakes on Bangalore.
However, AB de Villiers hit a 15-ball 21 to help Bangalore
finish strongly.
Medium-pacer Sreenath Aravind dismissed Aiden Blizzard for
10 and Harbhajan, promoted as pinch-hitter, for 13, but skipper Sachin
Tendulkar hit a 24-ball 40 with seven fours to keep Mumbai in the hunt.
Left-arm spinner Syed Mohammad took the key wicket of Tendulkar,
stumped, to trigger a collapse as Vettori dismissed Rohit Sharma (13), Ambati
Rayudu (0) and Pollard (3) in quick succession to help Bangalore take a firm
grip on the match.
Left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan bowled Franklin for 16 and
Mohammad dismissed Malinga for seven for his second wicket of the match.
“I thought the way Gayle started, that set the tone for
them,” Tendulkar said. “We came back strongly in the last ten overs, they may
have ended going above 200.
“This is a high-scoring game, it was within our reach. I
thought it was a good track, it was coming on nicely, but in the middle overs
we got stuck. The middle order, I felt, could have been more consistent, but it
could not happen.”
Bangalore
Royal Challengers 185-4 in 20 overs (Chris Gayle 89, Mayank Agarwal 41; Munaf
Patel 2-27) def. Mumbai Indians 142-8 in 20 overs (Sachin Tendulkar 40; Daniel
Vettori 3-19).