Bangalore fans were watching Royal Challengers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium for the first time in nearly 15 months. But a cool-nerved Jean-Paul Duminy spoiled their occasion with an innings brighter than a South African diamond as Cape Cobras emerged a five-wicket winner in the inaugural match of the Champions League T20 on Thursday.
Batting by choice, RCB made 180 for four in 20 overs with Robin Uthappa and Ross Taylor leading their charge with powerful fifties. Cobras, led by Duminy’s unbeaten 99, overhauled the target with two balls to spare.
Cobras needed a strong beginning to hunt down the target, and it depended a lot on the length of Herschelle Gibbs’ stay at the crease. To Cobras’ chagrin, they saw Gibbs tamely edging a Praveen Kumar delivery to Mark Boucher behind the wicket.
The early fall of Gibbs might have raised RCB’s hopes but that proved short-lived as Duminy produced an exceptional innings. Severe on spinners and pacers alike, Duminy was involved in three successive partnerships that kept Cobras above the required run-rate.
He added 48 runs off 32 balls with Henry Davids for the third wicket and then for the fourth wicket realised 41 off 26 balls in the company of Justin Ontong. But the decisive partnership came for the fifth wicket when Duminy and Ryan Canning stitched together 63 runs off a mere 37 balls.
Cobras needed nine runs from the last over, and Duminy’s flat six off R Vinay Kumar over mid-on brought them close. Rory Kleinveldt then sealed the victory with a four through covers, even as a couple of fielding errors hurt the homeside badly.
Earlier, Uthappa, who received a reprieve on 18, capitalised on his luck as he punished the visitors with a barrage of strokes, with Taylor’s fifty providing the late momentum.
Dravid, who was dropped on 14, too joined the party with a six off left-arm spinner Claude Henderson. Just when it seemed that the Dravid-Uthappa alliance would take RCB to a mightier total, Uthappa lost his wicket, his uppish cut off Monde Zondeki ending in the safe hands of Gibbs at point.
Dravid, who looked primed for a bigger knock, became a victim to a mix up with Virat Kohli. At 115 for four, Cobras might have nursed thoughts of restricting RCB to a smaller total. But their hopes evaporated as Taylor, who was particularly severe on Zondeki, and Manish Pandey milked 65 runs in a jiffy as RCB amassed a huge total. Against Duminy’s brilliance, even that wasn’t good enough.
SCORE BOARD
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Kallis c Canning b Langeveldt 9 (8b, 1x4); Uthappa c Gibbs b Zondeki 51 (39b, 7x4, 2x6); Dravid (run out) 28 (25b, 2x4, 1x6); Kohli st Canning b Henderson 17 (14b, 2x4); Taylor (not out) 53 (24b, 4x4, 4x6); Pandey (not out) 10 (10b); Extras (LB-4, W-9) 13; Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) 180
Fall of wickets: 1-14 (Kallis), 2-82 (Uthappa), 3-97 (Dravid), 4-115 (Kohli). Bowling: Langeveldt 3-0-12-1 (w-1), Kleinveldt 4-0-45-0 (w-1), Philander 2-0-21-0, Zondeki 4-0-39-1 (w-1), Henderson 4-0-34-1, Ontong 3-0-25-0 (w-6)
CAPE COBRAS: Puttick c Kohli b Praveen 11 (11b, 2x4), Gibbs c Boucher b Praveen 0 (1b); Davids c Kohli b Vinay 27 (21b, 2x4, 1x6); Duminy (not out) 99 (52b, 8x4, 5x6); Ontong b Merwe 19 (14b, 2x4; Canning c Kumble b Praveen 20 (18b, 1x4); Kleinveldt (not out) 5 (2b, 1x4); Extras (B-1, LB-1, W-1) 3; Total (for 5 wkts, 19.4 overs) 184.
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gibbs), 2-14 (Puttick), 3-62 (Davids), 4-103 (Ontong), 5-164 (Canning). Bowling: Praveen 4-0-32-3, Kallis 2-0-18-0, Vinay 3.4-0-40-1, Kumble 4-0-35-0 (nb-1), Van der Merwe 4-0-34-1, Kohli 2-0-23-0.
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