Royal Challengers Bangalore v Pune Warriors, Bangalore,Cricinfo

Royal Challengers Bangalore 186 for 4 (Gayle 81, Tiwary 36*, de Villiers 33*) beat Pune Warriors 182 for 6 (Uthappa 69, Ryder 34, Samuels 34) by six wickets

Chris Gayle was going at around a run a ball against some tight bowling. Then he calmly decided to shift gears. The bowling ceased to matter; five consecutive sixes came against the bowler with one of the best economy-rates in the IPL, Rahul Sharma. Treating that Rahul over as an aberration, Pune Warriors responded with more tight bowling, with Ashish Nehra yorking Gayle. But AB de Villiers and Saurabh Tiwaryhit 24 off the final over, bowled by Nehra, to pull off an improbable win, Royal Challengers Bangalore's first in four games.

For more than three-quarters of the game, the Royal Challengers had played catch-up to the Warriors. After Robin Uthappa's 69 took the visitors to 182, they had kept the Royal Challengers, and Gayle, in check for 12 overs. Gayle and Virat Kohli, game-changers both, had crawled along in a partnership of 30 in 35 deliveries. The asking-rate had ballooned to over 13, with 111 needed from 50. It claimed Kohli, who found deep point as he tried to hit out.

Kohli's dismissal fired up Gayle, who was on 37 off 35 then. Rahul bowled short, he bowled full, he went around the stumps, he went wide of the crease, he went wide of Gayle. To no avail. Five consecutive sixes later, the asking-rate was down by more than a couple of runs.

Warriors were stunned but they recovered quickly. Ashok Dinda, battling a painful side strain, conceded just 12 in two overs, including seven off the penultimate one with Royal Challengers needing 28 from 12. In between, Nehra had, for once, found the perfect yorker to send Gayle back for 81 off 48.

De Villiers and Tiwary kept the Royal Challengers in the hunt, hitting a six each to take 16 off the 18th over bowled by Angelo Mathews. Dinda's final over, the19th, seemed to have left Royal Challengers too much to get in the 20th over - 21.

De Villiers scrambled outside off to play the scoop off the second delivery in the final over, arming it past the wicketkeeper for four. Nehra delivered a low full toss and a length ball next. De Villiers smoked one straight down the ground for six; the next one was scooped nervelessly for another six over fine leg. With three needed off the last ball, Tiwary swung a length ball over the long-on boundary even as the rain came pouring down. Marlon Samuels, who had gone for under three an over, had two overs left.

Somehow, the Royal Challengers' batsmen had delivered after their bowlers had once again conceded a substantial score. Uthappa did most of the scoring with a power-packed half-century at the top of the order with Jesse Ryder and Samuels chipping in with smaller contributions.

The opening partnership between Uthappa and Ryder was worth 63 in seven overs. By then, Uthappa was in complete control. He timed three consecutive reverse-sweeps off Dilshan, with two of them beating short third man. He was put down by KP Appanna at long-off, a tough diving chance off Vinay Kumar in the 12th over but departed in the next as he sliced Daniel Vettori to point. The Warriors went at the same rate of around nine an over after Uthappa's dismissal with Samuels smashing the spinners for a couple of sixes. As it turned out, though, even 13 an over wasn't enough to deny Gayle, De Villiers and Tiwary.

Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers Bangalore, IPL 2012,Cricinfo

Chennai Super Kings 208 for 5 (Du Plessis 71, Dhoni 41, Murali 3-21) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore205 for 8 (Gayle 68, Kohli 57, Bollinger 3-24) by five wickets

Albie Morkel ransacked 28 runs off the first six balls he faced - the 19th over - to pull off an incredible heist for Chennai Super Kings, the second highest successful chase in the IPL. Chasing 206, Super Kings needed 43 off 12 balls, and Royal Challengers Bangalore would have thought the match safe, only for Morkel to shatter the notion by savaging Virat Kohli's over. He launched three sixes, two fours and ran a two, to leave Super Kings with 15 to get in the last over. Although Morkel was caught on the boundary, leaving Super Kings needing 14 off four balls, Dwayne Bravo was on hand to finish it off, helped by a no-ball and a full toss from Vinay Kumar.

Royal Challengers score of 205, powered by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, was the first total in excess of 200 in this IPL. They were set for a larger score but lost five wickets in six deliveries at the end of their innings, a collapse they were left to rue.

More to follow ...

20 overs Royal Challengers Bangalore 205 for 8 (Gayle 68, Kohli 57, Bollinger 3-24) v Chennai Super Kings

Royal Challengers Bangalore, powered by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, became the first team to breach the 200-run mark in IPL 2012. On a batting friendly pitch, Royal Challengers faced little threat from the conditions and the attack as Chennai Super Kings' bowlers kept their answers to the persistent onslaught for the end, when they took five wickets in six deliveries.

Mayank Agarwal opened the innings instead of Cheteshwar Pujara, and did so in blistering fashion, laying the platform for Gayle and Kohli to construct a skyscraper on. Contrasting half-centuries from both batsmen, who scored at a sustained rate throughout their time at the crease, put Royal Challengers in a commanding position despite the flurry of wickets at the end.

Agarwal initially eclipsed Gayle, peppering the off side with powerful shots as he lofted the ball over mid-off and timed it sweetly through covers. He did not always get it right, though, and mistimed a sweep to Doug Bollinger at fine leg, a simple chance that should have been gobbled up. Bollinger let the ball slip through his fingers and gave Agarwal a lifeline on 16, which he made fairly good use of as he continued to hog the strike.

After five overs, Gayle had faced only five balls and had not scored a boundary. He was content to wait while Agarwal ushered Royal Challengers to the first half-century score inside five overs this season. When he had enough of the off-side, Agarwal shifted his focus and smacked R Ashwin for two sixes on the leg side. The fun eventually ended when Albie Morkel was introduced and Agarwal top-edged a slower ball bouncer to mid-on.

Three overs of sobriety followed as the change bowlers sent down a slew of slower balls to control the run-rate. The quiet was short lived. Gayle woke from his slumber when Suresh Raina came on to bowl. After scoring without boundaries, Gayle unleashed three sixes in the ninth over, which cost Super Kings 21, the most expensive of the innings. Two were sent sailing over long-on and the third was smoked off the back foot when Raina dropped short.

While Gayle gathered runs with power, Kohli did it with placement and timing. Their partnership grew to the highest in this edition of the IPL. MS Dhoni tried to stop the bleeding through Dwayne Bravo and Morkel, the only bowlers to have some measure of control by using changes of pace. Even Bravo's resistance crumbled, though, when Gayle sent a slower ball on to the stadium's roof.

It was up to Ravindra Jadeja, who was held back until the 17th over, to remove Gayle. His departure made little difference as Kohli damaged Morkel's figures, before becoming the first of Bollinger's three wickets in the final over. Bollinger had Kohli caught at long-on, Pujara bowled next ball and Raju Bhatkal caught at mid-off, as well as the run-out of Daniel Vettori to ensure Royal Challengers only inched over the 200 mark.

Nokia T20 Champions League Finals RCB vs MI Cricinfo

Clash of two IPL teams in final

Two IPL sides will battle for the Champions League T20 title for the first time when Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians tilt lances at each other on an M.A. Chidambaram Stadium track that has shown minimal allegiance to the shortest format. 

Batting heavyweight Challengers will start on the back foot, having spent the entire league phase feasting on a belter at the relatively smaller M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, while Mumbai will look to turn into success its greater acquaintance with the two-paced conditions at Chepauk. 

Challengers started the tournament with two losses and needed to win its last couple of league games to make it to the knock-out stage. 

The team accomplished this in style — defending a score in excess of 200and following it up with a dramatic chase of 214 that was decided by K.B. Arun Karthik's last-ball six.

Daniel Vettori's men turned in another scorching performance in the semifinal when they gunned down New South Wales' 203, thanks to Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, making it the third successive over-200 score for the team.

Challengers' run glut has been realised chiefly through the top three — Chris Gayle (252 runs at an average of 50, SR: 190), Virat Kohli (221 runs at 55, SR: 158), and T. Dilshan (119 at 30, SR: 128).

But unless the track for the final is the one which was used for the Chennai Super Kings-NSW game (the site of David Warner's riot act), Challengers' rampaging frontline is likely to meet with stiffer resistance for scoring, especially when pitted against the likes of Mumbai's Lasith Malinga and Harbhajan Singh.

Standout bowling spell

RCB's bowling line, plying its wares on a batting-friendly home wicket, has done nothing special yet and the standout performance has been Dilshan's 4-0-10-1 in the semifinal against NSW that produced 407runs in 38.3 overs. 

Vettori (five wickets, ER: 6.9) has been his usual tight self, but the team's titular lead bowler, left-arm paceman Dirk Nannes, has picked a solitary wicket in five games, while leaking runs in excess of ten per over.

Mumbai's performances have been anything but batting-centric. The Harbhajan Singh-led team began with two victories in matches in which it had been given up for dead, the first success facilitated by Malinga's unlikely cameo, and the second by Trinidad & Tobago's frustrating tendency to choke. A wash-out against Cape Cobras was followed by a loss to NSW, but T&T's defeat of the South African outfit saw Mumbai become the first team — albeit the most unconvincing — into the semifinals.

How much of an advantage Mumbai's relative familiarity with the conditions remains to be seen.

Although nobody has had a defining outing, none of Mumbai's bowlers has been taken to the cleaners, and in Harbhajan and Malinga it possesses two match-winners on a track that favours scoring so long as the ball is new.

Patchy batting

Mumbai's batting has been patchy. Kieron Pollard and Aiden Blizzard have scored the only two half-centuries for the team, and left-hander James Franklin has been cautiously sedate. The reinstated Suryakumar Yadav and all-rounder R. Sathish had a bit of a hit in the semifinal against Somerset.

Maybe, as skipper Harbhajan remarked the other day, it's time for Mumbai's young Indian players to stand up and be counted. 

Either way, the trophy will remain in India.

RCB Enter Semis

RCB snatches last-ball thriller to enter semis

Arun Karthik exults after hitting a six off the last delivery of the match to propel RCB into the semifinal of the Champions League T20. Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Incredible scenes of exhilaration were witnessed at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday night as Arun Karthik struck the match’s last ball high and mighty over mid-wicket and leapt in the air and punched his chest. 

Seconds earlier, a game of endless twists had reached its final tipping point – six required from the final ball with Daniel Christian running in. Karthik did the deed to help Royal Challengers Bangalore defeat South Australia Redbacks by two wickets in a decisive Group B match of the Champions League T20. The victory helped RCB finish second with four points in the group and the host will now clash with New South Wales in the semifinal here on Friday. 

The wicketkeeper-batsman’s pulse-pounding shot was the perfect finish to the hard work and harder hits generated by Tillakaratne Dilshan (74, 47b, 9x4, 2x6) and Virat Kohli (70, 36b, 4x4, 6x6) while chasing South Australia’s 214 for two. RCB finished with 215 for eight in 20 overs and this will be a night to remember for the fans, who hopped between hope and prayers with alarming regularity in the final stages. 

Gayle, Dilshan explode

RCB rested its case on Chris Gayle and Dilshan. The two marauders with the bat were expected to tweak in a miracle and they tried their best under the circumstances. Dilshan was first off the blocks and Gayle followed suit though he stayed guarded against the regular gambit of rival skippers – the employment of spin in the opening overs. 

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon however found Dilshan a distraction as the scoop over fine-leg was unfurled and the booming shots down the ground continued. Lyon also felt Gayle’s heat as the opener swatted a six without fuss. Gayle however perished to Christian but the openers by then had added 65 from 37 deliveries to give Kohli the needed cushion to mount his innings.

Kohli and Dilshan then shared a 100-run second-wicket partnership spread over 53 balls and that helped the crowd forget Gayle’s departure. Kohli played his inside-out drives, was adept to rock back on the back-foot and glide a few past short third-man and even outscored Dilshan as suddenly the RCB dug-out came to life. Kohli and Dilshan dismissed a Daniel Harris over for 25 runs and the host was well on course before a spate of sixes allied with wickets dragged the match into roller-coaster terrain. 

Tait shines

Dropped on 69 by Callum Ferguson, Kohli failed to build on and in the same over bowled by Shaun Tait, RCB’s young talisman holed out in the deep. Kohli’s dismissal heralded a passage of play, in which both teams wavered between agony and ecstasy as six wickets fell while the 37 runs that came at a healthy pace meant that RCB still had a chance.

Tait’s (five for 32) game-changing overs (15 and 19), in which he conceded four runs each and bagged one and three wickets respectively seemed to have done enough for South Australia to wrench its way back until the last over bowled by Christian went awry and Karthik lost himself under a mass of RCB teammates. South Australia finished with three points from four matches and crashed out of the tournament. 

Earlier, Michael Klinger won the toss, opted to bat and the South Australian captain found vindication from across 22 yards. Standing at the non-striker’s end, Klinger watched his partner Daniel Harris lash merrily against Dirk Nannes and S. Arvind. The first four overs yielded 49 through a flurry of swipes, lofted and square drives as Harris (108 n.o., 61b, 17x4, 2x6) dominated the partnership that eventually clocked 54 runs with Klinger’s contribution being a mere seven.

Arvind’s first two overs proved costly at 12 and 16 respectively and Nannes’ second over went for 18 runs. The lone scare for Harris was when he responded to his captain’s call for a suicidal single and watched Kohli’s throw miss the stumps. The scoring rate dipped once RCB captain Daniel Vettori stepped in from the fifth over and with fellow left-arm spinner Syed Mohammad bowling the sixth, spin was fully in the air. 

Mohammad lured Klinger with one that dipped and turned and Karthik whipped the bails in a flash. Vettori, Mohammad and then Raju Bhatkal and Kohli’s gentle seamers made scoring difficult for a while on a sluggish track. The run-rate slowed from above seven to just over five but Harris stayed alert to the loose deliveries and the pull and the clout over the bowler’s head was used effectively in a phase largely marked by the hurried single. 

Harris along with Callum Ferguson raised 114 runs for the second-wicket as the visitor motored along nicely with an assured trot replacing the opening blitz. Living in Harris’ huge shadow, Ferguson (70, 43b, 4x4, 3x6) still managed to nudge his and the team’s score before he slotted the fifth gear with a six off Arvind. Next he hoisted Nannes into the pavilion tier and South Australia found its second wind, a tornado at that, to gallop ahead. 

Ferguson fell with a mistimed hoick but Harris plundered at will against a wilting attack and his six over backward square-leg off Nannes spelt disdain and power. That stroke ushered in Harris’ hundred while the fielders displayed sweaty palms and watched the visitor post a daunting total that in the end proved attainable thanks to Dilshan, Kohli and Karthik’s ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ shot. 

The scores: South Australia: D. Harris (not out) 108 (61b, 17x4, 2x6), M. Klinger st Karthik b Syed Mohammad 7 (8b, 1x4), C. Ferguson c Karthik b Bhatkal 70 (43b, 4x4, 3x6), D. Christian (not out) 27 (9b, 4x4). Extras (b-1, nb-2): 2; Total (for two wkts., in 20 overs): 214.

Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-168. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Nannes 4-0-49-0, Arvind 4-0-69-0, Vettori 4-0-24-0, Syed Mohammad 4-0-29-1, Bhatkal 3-0-31-1, Kohli 1-0-11-0. 

Royal Challengers Bangalore: C. Gayle c Klinger b Christian 26 (15b, 3x6), T. Dilshan b Tait 74 (47b, 9x4, 2x6), V. Kohli c Borgas b Tait 70 (36b, 4x4, 6x6), S. Tiwary c Borgas b Tait 9 (7b, 1x6), M. Agarwal c Harris b O’Brien 6 (2b, 1x6), D. Vettori c Putland b Tait 8 (5b, 1x6), R. Bhatkal b Tait 1 (2b), A. Karthik (not out) 6 (2b, 1x6), S. Mohammad (run out) 2 (2b), S. Arvind (not out) 6 (3b). Extras (b-1, lb-1, nb-1, w-4): 7; Total (for eight wkts., in 20 overs): 215. 

Fall of wickets: 1-65, 2-165, 3-183, 4-190, 5-199, 6-200, 7-200, 8-202. 

South Australia bowling: Tait 4-0-32-5, Lyon 3-0-25-0, Richardson 3-0-34-0, Christian 4-0-44-1, O’Brien 4-0 44-1, Harris 2-0-34-0.

Nokia T20 Champions League RCB vs SOM

RCB needs to win to stay alive

PTI RCB’s Virat Kohli, S. Arvind, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle show that cricketers are not all about just big money, fast cars and bling as they do their bit for the green cause by posing with bicycles for an awareness campaign on the eve of their big match against Somerset.

 

Nett run-rate considerations may occupy other teams' thoughts, but Royal Challengers Bangalore, for the moment, stares at a frighteningly simple equation: defeat to Somerset on Monday equals exit from the Champions League T20.

If the loss to Warriors in the opening game had been a narrow one, there were no mitigating factors in the beating received at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders. AB de Villiers's injury has left the middle-order looking patently frail, and it needed Daniel Vettori to haul the side out of a trough on Thursday.

The captain was scathing in his criticism of the fielding and bowling efforts in the aftermath, saying the team needed to improve “tremendously” in the two areas. “What happened today is irrelevant,” he said. “We need to win the next two games to give ourselves a chance.”

Dirk Nannes was expensive against KKR, as was S. Arvind, ironically on the day he was called up for National duty. Rajoo Bhatkal, replacing Abhimanyu Mithun, had an encouraging debut with the bat but went for 20 runs in his two overs. Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle were used (without much success) with Syed Mohammed, in the side as a specialist bowler, surprisingly not bowling his full quota.

As was the case against Warriors, Vettori battled on from one end, niggardly as ever, with only Arvind offering any hint of support at the other. Tillakaratne Dilshan had a few rough moments behind the stumps and K.B. Arun Karthik, the side's other option, could be considered. The latter, though not a wicket-keeper at the first class level, played in that position three times in the IPL earlier this year. Any improved result will have to be caused by the same set of players for the squad offers Vettori few others to pick from.

Well-rested Somerset

Somerset, in contrast, will have had little to ponder over the preceding week. The team has been out playing golf at the city's KGA course and visiting charities, and with Saturday's washout, will have had seven days between games.

Craig Kieswetter and Jos Buttler were in the team to face South Australia and will reinforce the batting group enormously.

Captain Peter Trego and former RCB player Roelof van der Merwe have been among the runs, and along with Kieswetter, make up a top three that will relish digging into an opponent that has been rather generous in the field.

Marcus Trescothick's absence, though no surprise, has not been felt yet.

Captain Alfonso Thomas, even at 34, remains a shrewd T20 bowler and in Murali Kartik, he has someone that can be trusted to tie one end down — a luxury not available to his counterpart.

Although a win on Monday may eventually suffice, Somerset will assure itself of a place in the semifinals with victory in both remaining games.

Three games in the last two days have been affected by rain, and the forecast for the week ahead is not too bright either.

A wet outfield on Sunday also precluded practice sessions. The English side will pray for clear skies for, barring a Chris Gayle-effected miracle, there is little hope for the host.

KKR,RCB,WARRIORS Fight For top positions

Teams fight for top positions

 

 

KKR takes on Warriors which has full points from two matches

The stakes will be high on Saturday when the Champions League's Group B teams jostle for the top slots in a double-header at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The four squads in the fray are at varying points in their cumulative journey towards the semifinal slots.

Somerset, yet to lose a game in the tournament, starting with twin triumphs in the qualifying round besides a victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the league phase, will clash with South Australia in the evening match. The Australian outfit, with one win and a loss, needs to win the contest to stay alive.

Later in the night, Kolkata Knight Riders, having wrested some momentum and hope thanks to a facile victory against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday, will take on Warriors, a rival sitting pretty on top with its full quota of four points from two matches.

The matches will also evoke huge interest in the RCB ranks after two losses have left Daniel Vettori's men in a must-win quagmire for the remainder of the tournament.

van der Merwe delivers

In the past, Somerset was associated with two friends and their exploits. Vivian Richards and Ian Botham were men with imposing talent and an indomitable will.

Those days are long gone but the County has moved on and in its latest set of matches found Roelof van der Merwe (131 runs), doing the winning-act. van der Merwe is well aware of the local conditions, having played for RCB in the previous years.

In Murali Kartik, Somerset also has a gritty player battle-hardened on Indian terrain. Amidst all the noise that Harbhajan Singh's omission from the Indian team churned up, Kartik will continue to ply his wares.

Led by Alfonso Thomas, these are still early days for Somerset but the same cannot be said about South Australia, which slumped against Warriors and then bounced back with a win against KKR while Callum Ferguson and Daniel Christian batted well.

Michael Klinger's men need to get their act together fast as a loss against Somerset will litter the path ahead with calculators and net run-rates.

Even that luxury of a mathematical probability does not exist for KKR since it is playing its last league match and needs to win against Warriors.

Its first two losses continue to hurt but KKR can take heart from the manner in which its top-order of Jacques Kallis, Brad Haddin and skipper Gautam Gambhir clinically demolished the RCB attack.

Gambhir's runs and his assurance when Dirk Nannes bounced at him are all pointers to welcome normalcy after he spent the last month coping with dizzy spells triggered by a concussion in the head.

KKR needs its bowlers to tighten up which they did for some time against RCB before Vettori cut loose.

Warriors, with a last-ball win against RCB and a resounding punch against South Australia, have found varied heroes in Ashwell Prince and J.J. Smuts. Captain Johan Botha will hope that his team will seal its semifinal berth but before that his bowlers, be it Lonwabo Tsotsobe or Rusty Theron need to break the Kallis-Gambhir combine.