David Warner produced back-to-back centuries, but fellow left hander Chris Gayle had the last laugh in the battle of cricket's master blasters, as New Zealander Daniel Vettori's Bangalore Royal Challengers beat New South Wales to reach the Champions League Twenty20 cricket final.
The scourge of the Australian teams in the tournament, RCB successfully chased down a target of 204 with six wickets and nine balls to spare, two nights after making 215 to beat South Australia.
Warner, who smashed 135 not out off 69 balls earlier in the week against Chennai, blasted an unbeaten 123 off 68 balls, as the Blues scored 2-203 in Bangalore after being sent in to bat.
He walloped a tournament record of 11 sixes in the innings, and became the first batsman to hit successive Twenty20 centuries.
Not to be outdone, Gayle scored at an even faster rate, thrashing 92 off 41 including eight fours and eight sixes in an innings of breathtaking brutality.
Gayle and man of the match Virat Kohli, who struck 84 not out off 49, massacred the Blues attack, blasting 141 off just 11 overs for the second wicket.
RCB advance to the final in Chennai on Monday morning, and will face the winner of the second semi-final between the Mumbai Indians and English county side Somerset.
