'I am very happy with my performance. It was a key game for us. It wasn't the best of starts, it was a bit difficult to bat on initially. In the end, I got close to 20 overs which was good for me,' the big-bodied Jamaican said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

Gayle said that the general discussions were regarding one of the top batsmen trying to bat as many overs as possible.

'No one got a 50 in the first two games. We had a discussion. So whosoever got in this game, try to play a bit longer. Hopefully we can win the next one with a big margin as well.'

On his unusual approach to start sedately and then go for shots, Gayle said, 'It was an important game for us and I had to stay there longer. (Tillakaratne) Dilshan took the pressure off me initially. That gave me the opportunity to get set. Once that happened, I took it on.

'It was good that Daniel Vettori was not bowling against me. The foundation was built and I had a chance to go after the spinners. Mayank (Agarwal) too came in and played a brilliant cameo and credit should go to the other guys as well,' he said to a query on thrashing the three left-arm spinners of Somerset.

RCB skipper Daniel Vettori said that this win was exactly what the doctor ordered.

'It's what we needed to do. We needed a big one to give ourselves a chance. Gayle showed what a good player he is during the IPL, and again today. We were still battling however with the way Somerset started,' Vettori said.

Although he wasn't happy with his bowlers' performance during the KKR game, he said that today it was 'satisfactory.'

'I thought 185 was par-score on this track and we got above that. We knew that chasing this target would be tough.'

On whether over-dependence on Gayle is a concern for RCB, he said,

'Not when he's scoring runs. We have a batting line-up that complements Chris and his big hitting ability. Like Chris said, Dilshan took some pressure off him; Virat played very well again; Tiwary has started to regain form and Mayank came out and played his natural game. He looks like a sensational player who will go a long way. So, we have Chris but we also have players who can bat around him.'

Asked whether it was the plan to maintain the high scoring rate throughout the innings, the RCB skipper said, 'Yes, we knew we had to get a big total to help our net run rate. We were fortunate to get 200 and bat around Chris to get those runs. Also, the bowlers did a superb job. We wanted to win the game by 30 runs our bowlers ensured we cruised home with a 51-run win. It will help our run rate immensely. Now we can go into the last game knowing if we win, we have a chance of qualifying for the semis.

On fielding still being an area of concern, Vettori's reply was: 'It was an improved performance tonight, apart from the two dropped catches. That's the part of the game that we'll look to improve on; we have a long way to go. It took us time in the IPL as well, to get to the best of our fielding ability and unfortunately it has plagued us here too.'

Somerset skipper Alfonso Thomas said that they could have gone with an off-spinner rather than going with three left-arm spinners whcih made their attack look predictable.

'We could have done with an off-spinner, but taking nothing away from Chris, he paced his innings nicely,' he said.