Publications
Partners
Robin Uthappa's fantastic unbeaten half-century allowed the Bangalore Royal Challengers to wriggle off the hook at the end of their innings as they beat the Chennai Super Kings by 36 runs in their IPL match at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
After being sent in to bat, several of the Bangalore batsmen played themselves in but the Super Kings kept chipping away, and it was Uthappa who finally converted a mediocre total into a challenging 171 for five.
Pace bowler Vinay Kumar's four wickets and a top-class spell from Anil Kumble then took their toll on the Chennai Super Kings batting as the visitors limped to a dull 135 for seven in reply.
A fiery new-ball spell by Dale Steyn set the tone and his new-ball partner Praveen Kumar dismissed Parthiv Patel, caught behind by Mark Boucher for just a single with a delivery that jagged away off the pitch.
Matthew Hayden, however, was looking solid as he bashed five fours in his 32 off 28 balls before being sunk by a run out. He had recently changed to his shorter mongoose bat and was caught short when he came down the pitch too far as George Bailey drove into the covers and Rahul Dravid scored a direct hit.
Bailey, meanwhile was marooned as he battled to 18 off 27 balls before he was caught by Boucher off Vinay just two balls later.
Vinay was in the action again in his next over as Suresh Raina (9) sliced a wild heave to third man, where Jacques Kallis took a neat catch, as he moved smartly to his right.
The Chennai batsmen had pushed and prodded at Kumble, struggling to read his googly, for the duration of his first spell of three overs for eight runs and the Bangalore captain returned in the 13th over to dismiss Murali Vijay for three.
Despite some long handle from Subramaniam Badrinath, who swung bravely for 31 off 17 balls, the Super Kings were always well short of the required run-rate and Albie Morkel's run-a-ball 19 was nowhere near enough.
Vinay dismissed both Badrinath and Morkel to finish with four for 40 in his four overs, while Kallis bounced back well after a mauling at the hands of Hayden to concede 29 runs in his four overs. Steyn went for 25 in his four overs, while Kumble gave away just 15 runs in his allotted stint.
In the Bangalore innings, Uthappa was the only batsman able to go past 30 as he blasted 68 not out off just 38 balls, peppering the crowd with six sixes in the closing stages.
Uthappa smashed a four and three succesive sixes in the penultimate over to boost the Bangalore Royal Challengers and ensure they would go past 150, which looked doubtful after they had slipped to 119 for five after 17 overs.
The Super Kings were left to cry over missed opportunities as Uthappa was dropped on five and 25, while Morkel had rotten luck with the ball and could easily have finished with four wickets instead of the one for 28 he had to be content with.
Morkel could have had countryman Kallis out twice in his first two overs, an excellent appeal for caught behind being turned down before the orange cap holder had scored, and Lakshmipathy Balaji then losing sight of a catch at third man in the next over.
Kallis was eventually bowled by Balaji for 19, the first time he has been dismissed in IPL3, having scored 283 runs.
It was ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who nearly derailed the Bangalore innings as he claimed three for 25 in his four overs, before the great finish by Uthappa, helped by Boucher, who hit a final-over six in his 11 not out.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
JH Kallis, MK Pandey, RV Uthappa, V Kohli, R Dravid, EJG Morgan, MV Boucher (wk), P Kumar, A Kumble (capt), DW Steyn, R Vinay Kumar
Chennai Super Kings:
PA Patel (wk), ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina (capt), S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, JA Morkel, R Ashwin, L Balaji, M Muralitharan, S Tyagi
After being sent in to bat, several of the Bangalore batsmen played themselves in but the Super Kings kept chipping away, and it was Uthappa who finally converted a mediocre total into a challenging 171 for five.
Pace bowler Vinay Kumar's four wickets and a top-class spell from Anil Kumble then took their toll on the Chennai Super Kings batting as the visitors limped to a dull 135 for seven in reply.
A fiery new-ball spell by Dale Steyn set the tone and his new-ball partner Praveen Kumar dismissed Parthiv Patel, caught behind by Mark Boucher for just a single with a delivery that jagged away off the pitch.
Matthew Hayden, however, was looking solid as he bashed five fours in his 32 off 28 balls before being sunk by a run out. He had recently changed to his shorter mongoose bat and was caught short when he came down the pitch too far as George Bailey drove into the covers and Rahul Dravid scored a direct hit.
Bailey, meanwhile was marooned as he battled to 18 off 27 balls before he was caught by Boucher off Vinay just two balls later.
Vinay was in the action again in his next over as Suresh Raina (9) sliced a wild heave to third man, where Jacques Kallis took a neat catch, as he moved smartly to his right.
The Chennai batsmen had pushed and prodded at Kumble, struggling to read his googly, for the duration of his first spell of three overs for eight runs and the Bangalore captain returned in the 13th over to dismiss Murali Vijay for three.
Despite some long handle from Subramaniam Badrinath, who swung bravely for 31 off 17 balls, the Super Kings were always well short of the required run-rate and Albie Morkel's run-a-ball 19 was nowhere near enough.
Vinay dismissed both Badrinath and Morkel to finish with four for 40 in his four overs, while Kallis bounced back well after a mauling at the hands of Hayden to concede 29 runs in his four overs. Steyn went for 25 in his four overs, while Kumble gave away just 15 runs in his allotted stint.
In the Bangalore innings, Uthappa was the only batsman able to go past 30 as he blasted 68 not out off just 38 balls, peppering the crowd with six sixes in the closing stages.
Uthappa smashed a four and three succesive sixes in the penultimate over to boost the Bangalore Royal Challengers and ensure they would go past 150, which looked doubtful after they had slipped to 119 for five after 17 overs.
The Super Kings were left to cry over missed opportunities as Uthappa was dropped on five and 25, while Morkel had rotten luck with the ball and could easily have finished with four wickets instead of the one for 28 he had to be content with.
Morkel could have had countryman Kallis out twice in his first two overs, an excellent appeal for caught behind being turned down before the orange cap holder had scored, and Lakshmipathy Balaji then losing sight of a catch at third man in the next over.
Kallis was eventually bowled by Balaji for 19, the first time he has been dismissed in IPL3, having scored 283 runs.
It was ace spinner Muttiah Muralitharan who nearly derailed the Bangalore innings as he claimed three for 25 in his four overs, before the great finish by Uthappa, helped by Boucher, who hit a final-over six in his 11 not out.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
JH Kallis, MK Pandey, RV Uthappa, V Kohli, R Dravid, EJG Morgan, MV Boucher (wk), P Kumar, A Kumble (capt), DW Steyn, R Vinay Kumar
Chennai Super Kings:
PA Patel (wk), ML Hayden, M Vijay, SK Raina (capt), S Badrinath, GJ Bailey, JA Morkel, R Ashwin, L Balaji, M Muralitharan, S Tyagi
