IPL
Kallis on fire for Bangalore
2010-03-16 17:22
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Bangalore - Jacques Kallis produced an innings of almost unsurpassed class to power the Bangalore Royal Challengers to an emphatic 8-wicket win in the IPL match against the Kings XI Punjab at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Tuesday.
Kallis scored a magnificent undefeated 89 off 55 balls, with eight fours and five sixes as the chasing Bangalore reached 204/2 in 18.5 overs.
Earlier, Punjab managed a superb 203/3.
That was largely thanks to the exuberance of Manvinder Bisla, who slammed 75 off 51 balls with seven fours and four sixes, and the stylish innovation of Ravi Bopara.
Bopara and Bisla scored 129 runs in 14.1 overs for the first wicket. Bopara finished with 77 off 50 deliveries with nine fours and two sixes.
Manish Pandey and Kallis were off to a flyer, adding 74 runs in eight overs before Pandey skied a delivery by Piyush Chawla to backward point to be dismissed for 38.
After Pandey’s departure, Robin Uthappa scored the second fastest fifty in the history of the IPL, off 19 deliveries, to set the scene for Kallis.
But the stylish South African right-hander still had a lot of work to do.
Punjab cleverly used their slower bowlers like the left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Bopara to frustrate the chasers of Bangalore for a while after the departure of Uthappa.
Perhaps the pivotal moment came in the 18th over, with Bangalore needing 34 runs in three overs to win it.
Sharma had bowled expertly until then.
But Kallis scored 23 runs in that over, including three leg-side sixes, to break the shackles.
If ever Kallis produced an innings to showcase his undoubted batting class in international 20-over cricket, this was it.
Uthappa treated Yusuf Abdulla with disdain, hitting 13 in an over by the South African swing bowler.
The next over was a rude awakening for Kumar Sangakkara, who had hoped that his best bowler, Sree Sreesanth, would remove the dangerous straight hitter.
Uthappa dispatched Sreesanth to all parts of the ground as he ignited the crowd with 25 runs, including three straight sixes.
Earlier, Bopara and Mahela Jayawardene used creative shots, including the reverse sweep and paddle sweep, to unsettle the bowling attack and score seventy runs in the final five overs.
Kallis took 1/43 in four overs and his South African colleague Dale Steyn captured 1/36 in four overs.
Abdulla went for 36 runs in 2.5 overs and was guilty of overusing the slower delivery.
Teams: Bangalore Royal Challengers: 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
Kings XI Punjab: KC Sangakkara (capt & wk), MS Bisla, RS Bopara, DPMD Jayawardene, Yuvraj Singh, IK Pathan, M Kaif, PP Chawla, Bipul Sharma, YA Abdulla, S Sreesanth