CHENNAI, India (CMC) — Superstar opener Chris Gayle narrowly missed out on a hundred, upstaging West Indies teammate Sunil Narine who again went wicketless, as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets here yesterday.

Opting to bowl first, RCB restricted Knight Riders to 177 for six from their 20 overs, and then successfully chased down their target with six balls remaining, with Gayle smashing 96 from 56 deliveries.

The left-hander, who ruled himself out of the Test series against England because of fitness issues, hammered seven fours and seven sixes, to guide the RCB run chase.

He was one of only three batsmen in double figures and one of two to pass 20, as South African AB de Villiers hit 28 from 13 deliveries and Gayle's opening partner, captain Virat Kohli, got 13.

In fact, RCB struggled with partnerships, with the highest being a seventh-wicket stand of 38 between Gayle and Harshal Patel (9 not out).

Can Narine get wickets without throwing ?

In reply to CaribbeanCricket.com

Narine might have gone wicketless... but I saw the last match KKR vs RCB, and the RCB batsmen did not take chances against Narine for his first 3 overs..

Narine's figures were 3 overs for 9 runs...

Until in his last over, Gayle & Patel took him for 11 runs. (Still 4 overs for 20 runs is very decent)

On multiple occassions, Narine beat the batsmen, esp Gayle.

My further observation is that Narine is bowling lot more off-spin deliveries and less of his other variations.

It will be interesting to see, how he progresses

Narine has to be patient, wickets will come eventually, when he figures out new strategies. Just stay legal.

Last year he was getting on slowly also until he took 4 in a game and then he took off. Same thing so far. Wickets will come but he is doing his other job nicely which is keeping runs down.