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Royal Challengers pack off Super Kings
Sunday, May 24 2009
Johannesburg: The Royal Challengers Bangalore pulled off a dramatic six-wicket win over fancied Chennai Super Kings to enter the final of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, here tonight and set up a title clash with Deccan Chargers on Sunday.
Put into bat by skipper Anil Kumble, the Super Kings were off to a flier but lost the plot in the middle overs and made 146 for five in their 20 overs. In reply, the Challengers, thanks to solid knocks by Manish Pandey (48) and Rahul Dravid (44) besides a late flourish from Virat Kohli (24 not out), overhauled the target with seven deliveries to spare.
And so, the two teams that had finished at the bottom of the league table will now fight it out for the trophy as the tournament continued its pattern of throwing up unexpected results.
In the end though, the Challengers deserved the victory, for they showed better discipline, be it in batting, bowling or fielding while the Super Kings surrendered rather tamely with their bowlers, barring Muttiah Muralitharan, yet again letting them down, not to mention some sloppy fielding.
Although the Challengers lost two early wickets, those of opener Jacques Kallis and the dangerous Raoelof van der Merwe by the third over, Pandey and Dravid put on 72 runs for the third wicket with some sensible batting to take the game away from the Super Kings.
The pair batted with great determination and survived some tense moments when the spinners came on to guide their team to safety and eventually, victory.
Pandey was the aggressive of the two and punched some handsome boundaries to jettison the chase while the experienced Dravid nurtured the partnership and opening out occasionally as if to remind everyone of his presence.
The Super Kings bowlers, on the day, fell short of expectations and only the legendary Muralitharan delivered with a magical four-over spell that cost a mere 15 runs while he dismissed Dravid soon after Pandey was bowled by left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati a couple of overs earlier.
However, the Challengers were on easy street by then and some hefty blows in the last five overs by Kohli and Ross Taylor (14 not out) carried the team over the line. In fact, the Challengers scored 39 runs in three overs to seal the game, including 15 off the 17th bowled by Raina and 14 off five deliveries that Oram sent down in the 19th.
Earlier, the Super Kings lost their way after the loss of the openers Matthew Hayden and Parthiv Patel and eventually ended up at least 20 runs short.
Hayden never quite settled down and the two-match break seemed to have affected his sense of timing. In fact, he lived dangerously while getting away with a couple of chancy shots that eluded the fielders. He ran out of luck when Pandey took a good catch on the ropes for 26.
At the other end, Patel looked in good nick and essayed a few pleasing strokes on both sides of the wicket to provide the early momentum to the innings. He looked set for a major knock when he followed Hayden to the dugout falling leg before to Kallis.
Thereafter, the Super Kings struggled to get going. Dhoni, having promoted himself to No.3 ahead of Suresh Raina, failed to deliver the big shots to sustain the momentum. Likewise, Raina did not quite look the part and though he slammed a boundary and a six, the first big shots in six overs, he succumbed to pressure and lead-edged to offer a simple catch to Boucher behind the stumps.
The Super Kings never regained their early momentum and scored a mere 40 runs in the last five overs with Morkel and Oram hitting a six apiece to round off a rather disappointing showing by a team that was clear favourite to win the cup, especially after the defeat of Delhi Daredevils in the first semi-final.
SCORE-BOARD
Chennai Super Kings Innings:
Parthiv Patel lbw Kallis 36 (27b, 7 x 4)
Matthew Hayden c Pandey b Vinay Kumar 26 (19b, 1 x 6, 2 x 4)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni c Vinay Kumar b Merwe 28 (30b)
Suresh Raina c Boucher b Praveen Kumar 20 (19b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)
Albie Morkel (not out) 20 (17b, 1 x 6, 1 x 4)
Jacob Oram c Uthappa b Vinay Kumar 09 (7b, 1 x 6)
Subramaniam Badrinath (not out) 01 (1b)
Extras (lb-3, w-3): 06
Total (for 5 wkts, 20 overs): 146
Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Hayden, 6.6); 2-69 (Patel, 8.4); 3-104 (Raina, 14.1); 4-125 (Dhoni, 18.4); 5-140 (Oram, 19.2).
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 4-0-26-1; Jacques Kallis 4-0-26-1 (1w); R Vinay Kumar 4-0-38-2; Anil Kumble 4-0-30-0; Roelof van der Merwe 4-0-26-1 (2w).
Royal Challengers Bangalore Innings:
Jacques Kallis c Patel b Gony 09 (7b, 2 x 4)
Manish Pandey b Jakati 48 (35b, 7 x 4)
Roelof van der Merwe b Morkel 02 (5b)
Rahul Dravid lbw Muralitharan 44 (39b, 7 x 4)
Virat Kohli (not out) 24 (17b, 2 x 6, 1 x 4)
Ross Taylor (not out) 14 (12b, 2 x 6)
Extras (lb-3, nb-2): 05
Total (for 4 wkts, 18.5 overs): 149.
Fall of wickets: 1-17 (Kallis, 1.4); 2-22 (Merwe, 2.5); 3-94 (Pandey, 13.3); 4-110 (Dravid, 15.1).
Bowling: Albie Morkel 3-0-26-1; Manpreet Gony 2-0-23-1 (1nb); Shadab Jakati 4-0-29-1; Suresh Raina 3-0-23-0; Muttiah Muralitharan 4-0-15-1; Lakshmipathy Balaji 2-0-16-0; Jacob Oram 0.5-0-14-0 (1nb).
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