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Centurion - A magnificent unbeaten 81 by Ross Taylor led the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a six-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL Twenty20 at Supersport Park on Tuesday.
Their victory lifted them to equal third position with the Deccan Chargers, on 12 points, behind the Delhi Daredevils on 14 and the Chennai Super Kings on 13. The Knight Riders remain glued to the bottom of the log, with three points and just one win.
Chasing 174 to win, the Challengers passed that total with four balls to spare. South African Jacques Kallis and Jesse Ryder shared a first wicket stand of 55 before Kallis, who had been playing superbly, was caught by Brendon McCullum for 32.
Ryder and Robin Uthappa followed soon after, but Black Cap Taylor and former Indian national captain Rahul Dravid put on 48 together before Sri Lankan Ajantha Mendis caught Dravid off his own bowling for 12.
At that stage, the Challengers still needed 52 runs off four overs and two balls, and Taylor rose to the occasion as he and Mark Boucher smashed 54 runs off just 23 deliveries. Taylor's 81 came off 33 balls as he hit seven fours and five sixes, including the six that secured victory for his team.
Boucher was very much the junior partner in the stand, scoring 13 runs.
Earlier, the Knight Riders, who were sent in to bat, put on one of their better batting performances, scoring 173 for four.
New Zealander McCullum played an anchor role, batting throughout the innings and finishing unbeaten on 83 off 64 balls. He and Australian David Hussey put on 70 off 55 balls for the third wicket before Hussey was bowled by Akhil Balachandra for 43.
After Angelo Mathews went out for 16, McCullum teamed up with Wriddhiman Saha to put on 39 runs in the last three overs to take the Knight Riders to a competitive total.
