Bangalore score a much needed win by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Ground:	M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Scorecard:	Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders
Player:	R Vinay Kumar, BB McCullum, RS Dravid, RV Uthappa
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009/10

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DateLine: 10th April 2010

 

Anil Kumble had wanted his bowlers to pull up their socks after the loss to Deccan Chargers and they responded in style against visiting Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. The captain himself showed the way with a niggardly spell (one for 17) and another lion-hearted performance by Vinay Kumar (three for 23) saw Kolkata Knight Riders lose their way after a bright start. Then Rahul Dravid scored his first fifty in this year’s IPL and a typical Uthappa blitz (52 off 22 balls) carried Bangalore to an easy win.

 

Kolkata Knight Riders was restricted to 160 for nine a below par total considering the great start which Gayle (34 off 15 balls) had given them. Kumble choked the runs and Vinay Kumar dealt crucial blows from which Kolkata could never recover. Kolkata at 100 for one after 11 overs was ideally placed for the final assault. McCullum had just clattered Sriram for 18 runs and along with Ganguly had added 50 runs for the second wickets. But the visitors lost three quick wickets and could never recover. Ganguly, who struggled to find his timing, was undone by a slower ball from Vinay Kumar and Kallis prised out Tiwary (0) with a short ball. Mathews (1) hit another slow ball from Vinay down to the throat of Taylor as three wickets fell for just four runs. McCullum (45) continued to fight and hit Vinay for six and two boundaries. But Kumble got the big wicket of McCullum and then innings went into a terminal decline and fell at least 30 runs short of an ideal target on this wicket.

 

Jacques Kallis courted a rare failure when Gayle held a smart catch off Dinda. But Dravid was in mood and clattered three boundaries off a Sharma over. Sriram, making some sort of a comeback, also played a few audacious shots as the second wicket pair quickly added 72 runs. Dinda came back and had Sriram playing on. The pressure was on Bangalore as the run-rate climbed but Dravid launched into Agarkar and smashed him for two consecutive sixes as 16 runs came off the 13th over. Mathews foxed Dravid with a slower ball which the batsman mistimed and was caught at sweeper cover by Agarkar.

 

But after that it turned out to be Uthappa show. The batsman deposited Mathews for a straight six to warm up for the night and then clattered another big shot off Mendis. The match was virtually over in the next two overs. Ishant Sharma was contemptuously flat batted over long off for a six and then biffed for two more boundaries as 17 runs came off the 16th over. Taylor also joined the party by hoisting Mendis for a six and Uthappa twice reverse swept the bowler for sixes. Uthappa also struck a conventional boundary as 23 runs came off the 17th over. Uthappa completed his fifty in just 22 balls and Taylor struck the winning boundary off Dinda as Bangalore won with 17 balls to spare.