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Mumbai - The Bangalore Royal Challengers sealed their Champions League spot with an emphatic nine-wicket drubbing of the Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.
Chasing a paltry 83 to win, the Bangalore outfit reached their target with 37 balls to spare.
Earlier, the Chargers were rolled out for a dismal 82, as they slipped to 35 for 5 inside 9 overs, before losing their final five wickets for just four runs.
Anil Kumble, who lost the toss, got his own back on Adam Gilchrist as he had the Chargers’ skipper well held on the square-leg boundary by Jacques Kallis in the very first over of the match.
That early setback proved fatal for the Chargers, as the rest of the top-order simply froze in their final match of the season.
Andrew Symonds couldn’t even take advantage of a dropped catch by Dale Steyn, as he edged the SA speedster in the very next over, and was well caught by Robin Uthappa.
Kumble, enjoying good bounce from the Mumbai track, helped himself to 4 for 16, while Kallis took 2 wickets for just 3 runs as the Deccan ship sunk dramatically.
Having set the mark for the slowest team 50 in their semi-final loss to the Chennai Superkings, the Deccan side went even slower in Mumbai, taking all off 72 balls to reach the minor landmark.
82 was never going to be enough against a batting card that included Messrs Kallis, Dravid and Pietersen, and so it was that the Challengers cruised to their target with a minimum of fuss.
The only surprise was that the highly consistent Kallis was not there at the end.
Having been voted the most consistent batsman in Friday’s IPL Awards, Kallis was untroubled until he lobbed an innocuous Rahul Sharma delivery back to where it came from, departing for 19.
Kevin Pietersen came in and batted like a man with a flight to catch, as his first ball was dispatched to the point boundary for four.
At the other end, Rahul Dravid ticked over serenely to end on 35 off 30 balls, while ‘KP’ (29) finished the contest in typically flamboyant fashion, clubbing Pragyan Ojha over long-on for six to seal the easiest of wins for the Bangalore side.
Their reward is a place in the lucrative Champions League in September, while the Chargers will lick their wounds and face the possibility of life without Gilchrist.
Teams:
Deccan Chargers:
AC Gilchrist (capt & wk), MD Mishra, RG Sharma, A Symonds, Y Venugopal Rao, DR Smith, Anirudh Singh, RJ Harris, PP Ojha, Harmeet Singh, R Sharma
Bangalore Royal Challengers:
R Dravid, JH Kallis, KP Pietersen, RV Uthappa (wk), V Kohli, CL White, B Akhil, P Kumar, A Kumble (capt), ND Doshi, DW Steyn
Chasing a paltry 83 to win, the Bangalore outfit reached their target with 37 balls to spare.
Earlier, the Chargers were rolled out for a dismal 82, as they slipped to 35 for 5 inside 9 overs, before losing their final five wickets for just four runs.
Anil Kumble, who lost the toss, got his own back on Adam Gilchrist as he had the Chargers’ skipper well held on the square-leg boundary by Jacques Kallis in the very first over of the match.
That early setback proved fatal for the Chargers, as the rest of the top-order simply froze in their final match of the season.
Andrew Symonds couldn’t even take advantage of a dropped catch by Dale Steyn, as he edged the SA speedster in the very next over, and was well caught by Robin Uthappa.
Kumble, enjoying good bounce from the Mumbai track, helped himself to 4 for 16, while Kallis took 2 wickets for just 3 runs as the Deccan ship sunk dramatically.
Having set the mark for the slowest team 50 in their semi-final loss to the Chennai Superkings, the Deccan side went even slower in Mumbai, taking all off 72 balls to reach the minor landmark.
82 was never going to be enough against a batting card that included Messrs Kallis, Dravid and Pietersen, and so it was that the Challengers cruised to their target with a minimum of fuss.
The only surprise was that the highly consistent Kallis was not there at the end.
Having been voted the most consistent batsman in Friday’s IPL Awards, Kallis was untroubled until he lobbed an innocuous Rahul Sharma delivery back to where it came from, departing for 19.
Kevin Pietersen came in and batted like a man with a flight to catch, as his first ball was dispatched to the point boundary for four.
At the other end, Rahul Dravid ticked over serenely to end on 35 off 30 balls, while ‘KP’ (29) finished the contest in typically flamboyant fashion, clubbing Pragyan Ojha over long-on for six to seal the easiest of wins for the Bangalore side.
Their reward is a place in the lucrative Champions League in September, while the Chargers will lick their wounds and face the possibility of life without Gilchrist.
Teams:
Deccan Chargers:
AC Gilchrist (capt & wk), MD Mishra, RG Sharma, A Symonds, Y Venugopal Rao, DR Smith, Anirudh Singh, RJ Harris, PP Ojha, Harmeet Singh, R Sharma
Bangalore Royal Challengers:
R Dravid, JH Kallis, KP Pietersen, RV Uthappa (wk), V Kohli, CL White, B Akhil, P Kumar, A Kumble (capt), ND Doshi, DW Steyn
