It was the first time in four attempts that the Royal Challengers had courted success at home, and so what if it came against fellow-strugglers Deccan Chargers, and by the narrowest of margins, three runs.

Like two staggering boxers, but minus the ferocity normally associated with slugfests that go right down to the wire, the Challengers and the Chargers traded mistimed punches. It appeared as if both sides, coming into this game with one win apiece from five matches, had not merely forgotten what it took to achieve victory, but were almost afraid of breasting the tape.

In the end, the divine intervention needed in such situations came in the shape of a couple of horrendous umpiring decisions right at the business end, helping Rahul Dravid’s Challengers restrict the Chargers to 153 for six chasing their own less than impressive 156 for eight.

While this wasn’t a contest of the highest quality, it wasn’t short on passion or commitment. A crowd that swelled in numbers as late afternoon blazing sunshine gave way to night and the lights took full effect — after causing a six-minute stoppage as the tower at the North Western stand briefly malfunctioned — got its money’s worth as well as a home victory in the closest IPL tie to date.

As if to drive home the point that even in Twenty20 cricket, individual heroics alone can’t carry the day, Rohit Sharma became the temporary owner of the Orange cap, given to the highest run-maker in the competition, and Zaheer Khan led all-comers in the wicket-taking stakes. Remember, these two teams are among the bottom three in the standings. Fact can sometimes indeed be stranger than fiction!

Embracing defeat

The fact of the matter on Saturday was that the Chargers somehow managed to embrace defeat and disappointment when victory appeared the far easier proposition. Having tided over a Wasim Jaffer-Virat Kohli association that threatened to take the game away from them, the Chargers had done remarkably well to keep the Challengers down to a modest total.

Then, through the VVS Laxman-Rohit third-wicket association of 96 (70b) in which the younger man matching his more illustrious skipper stroke for stroke, they got to within striking distance — 30 needed off 20 — when Rohit unnecessarily lashed out at Jacques Kallis, and picked out long-on.

That dismissal turned the contest on its head as the Chargers slid downhill. Dale Steyn followed up an exceptional display of quick bowling with an extraordinary catch running in from long-on and diving full tilt forward to send Shahid Afridi on his way, more the fielder’s wicket than man of the match Praveen Kumar’s. That set the stage for umpires Doctrove and Shastri to get into the act, the former shockingly ruling Laxman leg before to Praveen and the latter erring in adjudging Scott Styris out, both balls pitching way outside leg.

Kumble holds nerve

Twenty were needed off the last over from Anil Kumble, and for a brief while, Sanjay Bangar raised visions of an unlikely win with two mighty sixes, but the veteran held his nerve at the crunch.

It was, come to think of it, crunch time all the way for the Challengers. Stuck in, they lost Bharath Chipli cheaply, but without going into overdrive, Jaffer and Kohli kept the score board ticking over, the occasional big shot merely interspersing long spells of careful accumulation. Even so, at 80 for one after ten, a good platform had been erected; someone needed to provide the final flourish, but that never came.

Despite Rudra Pratap Singh going for 41 and Bangar conceding 14 in his only over, the Chargers bowled with great discipline and character. Having broken the 72-run (54b) second-wicket stand, they kept the pressure up, aided by Doctrove’s first elementary error in judgement that terminated Misbah-ul-Haq’s debut early. The rest of the middle-order failed to fire, until Dravid hit two massive sixes in the final over to get the team to respectability. How crucial those strikes were to prove, in the final analysis!

SCOREBOARD

ROYAL CHALLENGERS: Chipli b RP Singh 10 (7b, 2x4), Jaffer c Gibbs b Ojha 44 (37b, 6x4), Kohli c Bangar b RP Singh 38 (29b, 1x4, 2x6), Kallis b Ojha 6 (5b, 1x4), Misbah lbw Afridi 3 (5b), Dravid c Yadav b Styris 26 (21b, 1x4, 2x6), Boucher b RP Singh 16 (14b, 2x4), Praveen (run out) 8 (4b, 2x4), Zaheer (not out) 0 (0b). Extras (LB-3, W-2) 5. Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 156.
Fall of wickets: 1-13 (Chipli), 2-85 (Jaffer), 3-102 (Kallis), 4-104 (Kohli), 5-111 (Misbah), 6-135 (Boucher), 7-150 (Praveen), 8-156 (Dravid).
Bowling: Vijay Kumar 3-0-18-0, R P Singh 4-0-41-3 (w-1), Styris 4-0-29-1 (w-1), Afridi 4-0-23-1, Ojha 4-0-28-2, Bangar 1-0-14-0. Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 39/1; 10: 80/1; 15: 115/5; end of innings: 156/8 in 20 overs. Runs during Power Play 1-6 overs: 46/1.

DECCAN CHARGERS: Gilchrist c Jaffer b Zaheer 10 (11b, 2x4), Laxman lbw Praveen 52 (44b, 7x4), Gibbs c Kumble b Praveen 5 (7b, 1x4), Sharma c Jaffer b Kallis 57 (42b, 5x4, 3x6), Afridi c Steyn b Praveen 1 (2b), Styris lbw Zaheer 2 (3b), Yadav (not out) 3 (4b), Bangar (not out) 17 (7b, 2x6). Extras (B-1, LB-3, W-2) 6. Total (for 6 wkts, 20 overs) 153.
Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Gilchrist), 2-31 (Gibbs), 3-127 (Rohit), 4-128 (Afridi), 5-132 (Laxman), 6-132 (Styris).
Bowling: Steyn 4-0-20-0 (w-1), Zaheer 4-0-24-2, Praveen 4-0-23-3, Kumble 4-0-47-0 (w-1), Kallis 4-0-35-1.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 31/1; 10 overs: 63/2; 15: 112/2; end of innings: 153/6 in 20 overs.
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 33/1.