Indian veterans Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid shared the glory with two rising stars as the Royal Challengers Bangalore completed an astonishing comeback to reach the final of the Indian Premier League at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.
Kumble gained his seventh win in nine matches since taking over the captaincy, while Dravid and two members of last year’s winning Indian under-19 World Cup team, Manish Pandey and Virat Kohli, enabled Bangalore to beat the favored Chennai Super Kings by six wickets with seven balls to spare.
Bangalore will meet the Deccan Chargers in the final at the same ground in a contest between the teams that filled the bottom two places in the table in the first IPL last year.
PHOTO: AP
Bangalore restricted Chennai to 146 for five with what Kumble described as an outstanding bowling performance.
Then Dravid (44) and man of the match Pandey (48) put on 72 for the third wicket to set up the Bangalore win. Kohli (24 not out) and New Zealander Ross Taylor (17 not out) both hit two sixes as they completed the victory.
“It was a brilliant show, everyone rallied round,” said Kumble, who took over the captaincy from England’s Kevin Pietersen when Bangalore were languishing in seventh place — the same position they finished last year.
Bangalore needed to win their last round-robin match, against Deccan in Centurion on Thursday to make sure of qualifying for the semi-final against Chennai, who finished second. Pandey, 19, hit 114 not out against Deccan, the first century by an Indian batsman in the IPL, and continued in the same vein on Saturday, striking seven boundaries before being bowled when he missed a sweep against left-arm spinner Shadap Jakati.
Kumble hailed the contribution of Pandey and Kohli, 20, and highlighted their positive approach to batting, but Kumble had special praise for his bowlers, particularly for the way they bowled at the tail end of the Chennai innings.
“We really bowled well,” he said. “We only conceded three boundaries in the last seven overs.”
Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his team were disappointed, but paid tribute to Bangalore.
“They bowled better than us,” Dhoni said.
“The wicket was a bit slow, but we were looking for 160. We lost wickets at the wrong times,” he said.
Chennai made a good start after being sent in, with Matthew Hayden, the tournament’s leading scorer, and Parthiv Patel putting on 61 for the first wicket.
But the innings lost momentum when Hayden lofted Vinay Kumar to deep mid-wicket off the last ball of the seventh over after making 26. Dhoni said his team’s success in the round-robin phase was built around a strong batting line-up.
“The bowling department was a bit fragile, but today the batting didn’t click,” Dhoni said.
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