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Swashbuckling West Indies opener Chris Gayle smashed a blistering half-century before Yuzvendra Chahal returned with a three-wicket haul as Royal Challengers Bangalore outclassed Gujarat Lions by 21 runs in their Indian Premier League match in Bengaluru, on Tuesday.
Gayle stormed back to form as he slammed a 38-ball 77-run, while skipper Virat Kohli produced a superb 50-ball 64 to guide RCB to a massive 213 for two after Gujarat skipper Suresh Raina won the toss and elected to field.
Opener Brendon McCullum kept Gujarat in the hunt as he smashed a quickfire 72 from 44 balls, studded with two fours and seven sixes but he didn't get the support from the other end as RCB restricted the Lions to 192 for seven to snap their three-game losing streak.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who picked three for 31, was the pick of the bowlers for RCB as he picked up wickets at crucial intervals, including that of Dwayne Smith (1), Suresh Raina (23) and McCullum -- in his four overs to derail Gujarat's runchase.
Chasing 214 for victory, Gujarat lost opener Smith early when he was caught by Mandeep Singh off Chahal's bowling at deep square-leg.
Skipper Raina then slammed a quickfire 8-ball 23 which included two fours and two sixes before becoming Chahal's second victim.
Coming down the pitch, Raina tried to play a sweep shot which went straight to Shane Watson at short fine leg.
McCullum (72) and Aaron Finch (19) then stitched a 66-run innings off 34 balls for the third wicket to take Gujarat across the 100-mark in the 10th over.
McCullum also added 31 off 22 balls with Ravindra Jadeja (23) before becoming the third victim of Chahal in the 15th over as Lions kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Jadeja then was run-out after a mix-up with new batsman Ishan Kishan in the 18th over before the youngster smashed a 16-ball 39, laced with four sixes and two fours.
Earlier, Gayle and Kohli gave Bangalore a brilliant start as they amassed 45 in the first six overs and then went on to forge a 122-run opening partnership off 76 balls.
Gayle's innings was studded with five boundaries and seven massive sixes, while Kohli blasted seven fours and one six in his 50-ball knock.
Kohli took the early initiative as he picked up a boundary each in the first two overs before blasting Dhawal Kulkarni for three fours in the third over.
Gayle also completed his 10,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket with a single off Basil Thampi in the fourth over to become the first batsman to achieve the feat.
The West Indies batsman blasted his first six of the innings over mid-off before he sent young left-arm spinner Shivil Kaushik for another maximum over long-off in the seventh over.
Gayle exploded with successive fours and a six off left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja. He also blasted the last delivery of the over for a maximum but he was brilliantly caught by Brendon McCullum at the long-off boundary.
However, Gayle survived after replays showed that McCullum's hat had touched the boundary line.
Gayle made Lions pay as he brought up his fifty with a massive six over long-on off Kaushik in the 10th over and then clobbered Smith for another six as RCB raced past the 100-mark.
The dashing opener sent Smith out of the park again in the ssame over as RCB picked 17 runs off the over.
In the 13th over, Thampi finally dismissed Gayle when he trapped him leg before with a yorker to break the partnership.
Kohli, however, continued to score runs and reached his 28th IPL fifty in the 15th over with a couple of runs off Kaushik.
Travis Head and Kedar Jadhav provided the late charge to take RCB across the 200-mark as they scored 30 and 38 respectively off 16 deliveries.
While Jadhav cracked five fours and two sixes, Head hit two fours and a six in his innings.