 The Bangalore Royal Challengers did what was expected of them, given their relative strength on paper. They chased down the Kolkatta Knight Riders total of 160, with plenty to spare. Rahul Dravid, promoted up the order in the last two games, finally joined the IPL 3 party with an effective 52 off 35 balls, showing clearly where he belonged in the batting order. Robin Uthapa’s name is oft mentioned now in any Bangalore victory, and so too last night, where he scored 52 not out off 22 balls, with 5 sixers and 3 fours, effectively sealing Kolkatta out of the game.
The start was a good one for Ganguly’s men, where Ganguly, Chris Gayle and Brendon McCullum all provided early momentum, though none of them could go on to make a big score. Infact, the first 50 came in 32 balls and the first 100 in 69 balls. With Vinay Kumar proving the main destroyer, the rest of the Kolkatta batting seemed lost in Bangalore in a sea of red, and finished up with only 160 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their 20 overs.
In the first match of the day in Nagpur, when Chennai scored 138/8, it seemed that it would be a walk-in-the-park for the Deccan Chargers.
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| Dravid 52 for Royal Challengers |
And while it was not quite that, with some early hiccups, in the end, they did prevail, leaving them back in contention for a semi-final spot. Ashwin for Chennai did strike a double blow in his third over combining with Dhoni to have Ghilchrist caught behind and M Mishra stumped.
Rohit Sharma survived a confident lbw appeal off the same over, but did not last much longer to be caught brilliantly at point for 8 off 15 balls.
It was left to T. Suman to continue where he had left off in the previous match to complete a well made half-century and a sensible knock from Andrew Symonds to seal victory and 2 points on the table for Decccan Chargers.
Earlier, scratchy batting from Chennai’s top order exposed the weak lower order which never looked like getting them to even 150, and infact finished up at 138/8.
The innings largely rode on the back of a 42-ball 52 of Suresh Raina, with Vijay contributing 23 before running himself out, rather needlessly. While Dhoni was done in by a genuine breaker from Ohja, the rest of the performance left much to be desired, leaving behind many unanswered question for Dhoni’s XI, including “will we make the semi-finals?”
Chief Scores
Royal Challengers beat Kolkota Knight Riders by 7 wickets in Bangalore.
Kolkota Knight Riders 160 for 9 in 20 overs (Sourav Ganguly 33, Chris Gayle 34, Brendon McCullum 45, Anjelo Mathews 1, Cheteshwar Pujara 16, W. Saha 13, Ajantha Mendis not out 1; Jacques Kallis 2 for 31, Anil Kumble 1 for 17, R.Vinay Kumar 3 for 23) Royal Challengers 164 for 3 in 17.1 overs (Jacques Kallis 8, Sridharan Sriram 27, Rahul Dravid 52, Robin Uthappa 52 not out, Ross Taylor not out 14; Ashok Dinda 2 for 15)
Deccan Chargers beat Chennai Super Kings by 5 wickets at Nagpur.
Chennai Super Kings 138 for 8 in 20 overs (Murali Vijaya 23, Michael Hayden 19, Suresh Raina 52, Thilina Thushara 8; Ryan Harris 3 for 18, Pratap Singh 1 for 18, Harmeet Singh 1 for 21, Pragyan Ojha 1 for 20)
Deccan Chargers 139 for 4 in 19.1 overs (Monish Misra 21, Tirumalsetti Suman 55, Andrew Symonds 27 n.o; Ravichandran Ashwin 2 for 13) |
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