Royal win for Challengers

Kallis, Kumble script hosts crushing ten-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals

After knocking over a supremely over-matched Rajasthan Royals for just 92, the Challengers ballasted to 93 without loss for a facile ten-wicket win on Thursday night. Their second rousing triumph at home in three days also propelled the Challengers to second in the points table on nett run rate.

Manish Pandey and the in-form Jacques Kallis sent the Royals bowlers on a hiding to nothing with a pulverising opening association dotted liberally with equal measures of power, grace, timing and class. Morne Morkel suffered the most, the openers needing just 64 deliveries to secure the points.

That this was never going to be a battle among equals was obvious once Shane Warne lost the services of Graeme Smith and Dimitri Mascarenhas. Few, though, would have bargained for the ferocity with which Anil Kumble’s charged-up outfit came at the Royals on their way to the most comprehensive win of IPL III.

Praveen Kumar will walk away with most of the obvious plaudits for the seventh hat-trick in IPL history, but this victory was set up by the brilliant use of the short-pitched stuff by the express Dale Steyn and the admirable Kallis.

The South African duo was culpable of erring too often on the shorter and wider side on Tuesday against Kings XI. On Thursday, while the length remained the same, the line was a lot more demanding, particularly to dangerman Yusuf Pathan who was consequently reduced to a pale shadow of his usual domineering self.

Kumble turned in a fascinating exhibition of leg-spin and googly bowling, apart from leading the side with naked aggression, the emphasis always on looking to take wickets as the Challengers tightened the screws.

Kumble’s decision to field first was undoubtedly influenced by the authority with which the Challengers chased down 200-plus the other evening. Steyn cranked up the pace from the off, giving Naman Ojha and debutant Michael Lumb a torrid time, while there was no respite from the other end as Kallis slipped into wicket-taking mode straightaway.

The captain made his presence felt with his fifth delivery so that inside eight overs, the Royals had lost their top three with just 38 on the board when Pathan strode out.
This was going to be the crucial, if not decisive, passage of play, given the brutal power-hitting the Baroda right-hander is capable of. Immediately, Kumble went for pace, and back to Steyn and Kallis. The former banged ball after ball into the rib-cage and above, the latter changed the angle by coming round and getting the ball to climb disconcertingly.

R Vinay Kumar provided Pathan temporary respite and Rahul Dravid dropped a top-edged pull running to his left from mid-wicket to suggest the rub of the green was with Pathan when Virat Kohli came up with a brilliant pick-up and under-armed lob from cover point to send Pathan back and the vast gathering into raptures.From 75 for four, it went dramatically south for Royals. Praveen rolled over Damien Martyn, Sumit Narwal and Paras Dogra with successive deliveries in his third over before Kumble won the battle of the leggies, decisively. Absolutely enthralling!

SCORE BOARD

RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Naman Ojha c Uthappa b Kallis 16 (18b, 1x4), Michael Lumb st Boucher b Kumble 10 (18b, 1x4), Damien Martyn b Praveen 19 (24b, 1x4), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala b Kallis 5 (7b, 1x4), Yusuf Pathan (run out) 26 (24b, 1x4, 2x6), Paras Dogra b Praveen 3 (9b), Sumit Narwal c Pandey b Praveen 0 (1b), Shane Warne b Kumble 4 (7b), Morne Morkel st Boucher b Kumble 2 (9b), Munaf Patel (run out) 0 (2b), Siddharth Trivedi (not out) 0 (1b). Extras (LB-2, W-4, NB-1) 7. Total (all out, 19.5 overs) 92.
Fall of wickets: 1-27 (Ojha), 2-33 (Lumb), 3-38 (Jhunjhunwala), 4-75 (Pathan), 5-85 (Martyn), 6-85 (Narwal), 7-85 (Dogra), 8-91 (Warne).
Bowling: Praveen Kumar 4-0-18-3 (w-2), Dale Steyn 4-0-18-0 (w-1), R Vinay Kumar 4-0-25-0, Jacques Kallis 4-0-20-2 (w-1, nb-1), Anil Kumble 3.5-0-9-3.
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 27/0; 10: 45/3; 15: 78/4; end of innings: 92 all out in 19.5 overs.
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 31/1.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Manish Pandey (not out) 42 (30b, 7x4, 1x6), Jacques Kallis (not out) 44 (34b, 7x4). Extras (W-7) 7. Total (for no loss, 10.4 overs) 93.
Bowling: Munaf Patel 3-0-23-0, Morne Morkel 3-0-34-0 (w-4), Shane Warne 2-0-12-0, Sumit Narwal 2.4-0-24-0 (w-3).
Scoring pattern: 5 overs: 52/0; 10: 90/0; end of innings: 93/0 in 10.4 overs.
Runs during Power Play: 1-6 overs: 59/0.