MUMBAI, April 21: Mark Boucher hit a brilliant 39 and shared a crucial 55-run partnership with compatriot Jacques Kallis to script a thrilling five-wicket win for Bangalore Royal Challengers over Mumbai Indians in their IPL Twenty20 encounter here on Sunday.

Chasing 166 to win, the visitors weathered a clutch of wickets between the ninth and 14th overs to reach the target in 19.4 overs at the Wankhede stadium.

With this win, Challengers wiped off the bad memories of the crushing 140-run defeat in their opening match against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Boucher hit two sixes and four fours in his unbeaten 19-ball knock and weaved a 55-run partnership for the fifth-wicket with Kallis to ensure his team earn their first points in the tournament.

The 17th and 18th overs virtually sealed the hosts’ fate when Sanath Jayasuriya and Ashish Nehra were carted for 29 runs with the Bangalore team needing 40 from the last four.

Kallis departed in the 19th over bowled by Mumbai Indians’ stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh with five runs short of victory target but it was but a minor hurdle in Bangalore’s victory charge.

Earlier, skipper Rahul Dravid gave the innings the early momentum by hitting a quick-fire 32-run cameo.

In the first innings of the match, led by a late assault by Shaun Pollock, Mumbai Indians amassed 165 for 6. The retired ace South African all rounder cracked three sixes and two fours in his 12-ball cameo while making 28 after coming in at number seven. The home side had lost wickets regularly after Harbhajan opted to bat first on winning the toss and their total was built mainly around opener Sanath Jayasuriya (29), top-scorer Robin Uthappa (48) and Pollock.

The home team, in the absence of injured captain Sachin Tendulkar, got off to a good beginning after the early fall of Luke Ronchi in the second over with Jayasuriya showing cracking form in hitting five fours and a six in his 16-ball knock before he was run out.

Jayasuriya’s innings ended with a brilliant piece of fielding by Zaheer Khan off his own bowling, an over after the Sri Lankan had creamed 16 runs off Kallis’s first over, with a flurry of three fours and an on-driven six.

Uthappa and Pinal Shah, the Baroda wicket keeper, joined forces and helped the score past the 70 mark at the halfway stage.

The former, at times beaten by his Karnataka Ranji team-mate Vinay Kumar, also swung the bowler for a six over square leg. Uthappa tried to play the unorthodox scoop shot a number of times and missed quite often before connecting once off Kallis that fetched a boundary.

Uthappa fell, stumped by Mark Boucher, as he struck five fours and a six in his 36-ball knock and also added 28 runs in quick time with Abhishek Nayar. Nayar hoisted Vinay Kumar for a six and then Shaun Pollock struck the medium pacer for a four and a six towards the extra cover region as the bowler went for 20 runs in the 18th over of the innings to boost the run-rate.

—Agencies