The Bangalore captain Pietersen won the toss and elected to bat first. Bangalore made three changes in their team. Ross Taylor, Karan Sharma, Bishnoi came into the team while Dale Steyn was left out. Punjab included the Bengal seamer Ranadeb Bose in their playing eleven.
Ryder got his first runs in the IPL when he hit Ranadeb Bose for a four in his first over. However, Bangalore again lost an early wicket when an out-of-form Uthappa nicked Irfan Pathan to Yuvraj Singh in the second over of the match.
Kallis came in at number three to join Jesse Ryder. In what seemed to be a Ryder's day, the Kiwi sensation was smashing brilliant strokes to prove his critics wrong. Ryder took 18 runs in Bose’s over. Kallis too looked in good touch with runs flowing freely off his bat. However, Ryder, going for a big hit off Abdullah, missed the shot and the ball went on to hit the stumps. In the same over Abdullah took the wicket of Kevin Pietersen with a slower delivery getting the Bangalore captain out for his second duck in a row.
Bangalore were once again in a crisis at 48/3 when Dravid walked in. With Kallis attacking and Dravid rotating the strike, Bangalore went into the break at a score of 71/3.
The 'Strategy Break' favoured the Kings XI team when Chawla dismissed the consistent Dravid. 'The Wall' tried to go over the top but he held out to VRV Singh at long-on. Kallis, at the other end, was scoring steadily for Bangalore. Quick running between the wickets was seen when Taylor joined Kallis. The introduction of VRV Singh into the bowling attack proved to be a costly bet when he was taken for 14 runs off his first over by Kallis and Taylor.
A determined Kallis reached his fifty in the 14th over, while Ross Taylor began to open up and play some attractive strokes. Abdullah got his 3rd wicket when Kallis got out in trying to accelerate the scoring. The experienced South African managed to score 62 runs off 46 balls. His innings included 5 fours and 2 sixers. The expensive VRV Singh finally got his break when he dismissed Kohli in the 18th over.
Three quick wickets went down for Bangalore towards the end. While Ross Taylor got out trying for a shot over midwicket giving Abdullah his fourth wicket, Pathan picked up a couple dismissing Praveen Kumar and Pankaj Singh. At the end of 20 overs, Bangalore managed to reach a respectable score of 168 thanks to the efforts of Kallis, Ryder and Taylor. Yusuf Abdullah was the star bowler for Punjab, picking up 4 wickets.
Chasing a score of 169 runs to win, Punjab began their innings with Bopara and Goel. The duo took the team to a good start scoring at a runrate of 8 per over. Praveen Kumar had to go off the field after he hurt his ankle. Bangalore got their first break-through in the form of a run-out by Vinay Kumar. A sharp piece of fielding by him found Karan Goel short of his crease. Sangakkara was the next man in and he got a lucky break when he was put down by Dravid off Pietersen's bowling. Going into break, Punjab were in a good position having scored 80 runs. Bopara, after taking time to settle in, looked set for a good score.
Post break, Kumble got the wicket of Sangakkara in the 13th over. The Sri Lankan got out to Pankaj Singh at long-off, giving Kumble his first wicket. Meanwhile, Bopara registered his fifty with a six off Praveen Kumar. He took 19 runs in Praveen Kumar’s over. At this stage, Punjab required 41 runs off 4 overs.
Yuvraj Singh got into the groove when Kallis came in to bowl the 17th over. He scored 13 runs of the over, which included 2 fours.
Jesse Ryder was given the ball for the next over. However, he again proved to be an expensive bet with Bopara . Ryder gave away 17 runs as Punjab inched closer to victory.
After scoring a splendid 85, Bopara got out to Kallis by holding out to a good catch by Ryder at midwicket. Having hit 4 fours and 5 sixers Bopara departed, but the damage was already done.
The Punjab captain, Yuvraj Singh finished it off in style by scoring the 100th six of the IPL. A good batting performance by Punjab, helped by poor bowling by Bangalore, led to the first victory for the Kings XI team.
Interesting facts:
Yusuf Abdullah's four wicket haul was the 14th instance of a player picking up 4 or more wickets in an innings in IPL.
Kevin Pietersen got his second consecutive duck in IPL. He now stands joint second in the list of most ducks in IPL.
Jacques Kallis registered the 2nd fifty of his IPL career and his first in IPL 2009.
This was the highest total to be chased down successfully in IPL 2009 beating Deccan Chargers' 104 against Kolkata earlier.
Man of the match:
Ravi Bopara for his excellent inning of 85 runs.
Match Summary (Kings XI Punjab won by 7 Wickets)
Royal Challenger Bangalore – 168/9 in 20 Overs
J.Kallis- 62 R.Taylor –35
Y.Abdulla – 4-0-31-4 I.Pathan– 4-0-35-3
Kings XI Punjab – 173/3 in 19 Overs
R.Bopara- 84 Y.Singh –30*
A.Kumble– 4-0-19-1 J.Kallis– 4-0-51-1
No comments:
Post a Comment