JOHANNESBURG, May 24 Indian stalwart Rahul Dravid and two of the country's rising stars took the Bangalore Royal Challengers to victory in their Indian Premier League semi-final against the Chennai Super Kings at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.
Bangalore were meeting Deccan Chargers in the final at the same ground on Sunday in a contest between the teams that filled the bottom two places on the log in the first IPL in 2008.
Dravid (44) and 19-year-old Manish Pandey (48) put on 72 for the third wicket to lay the foundation for Bangalore's six-wicket win, then Virat Kohli, 20, finished the match off by hitting 24 not out off 17 balls.
As in the first semi-final, when Deccan beat the Delhi Daredevils Friday, the team finishing lower on the log won the knock-out match.
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.
Patel followed two overs later when he was leg before to Jacques Kallis for 36.
Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the left-handed Suresh Raina added 35 for the third wicket.
Raina hit a four and six off successive balls against Vinay Kumar but the threatened acceleration was cut short in the next over when he top- edged a pull against Praveen Kumar and was caught by wicket-keeper Mark Boucher for 20.
Dhoni reached 28 without hitting a boundary before he hit Roelof van der Merwe high to long-on and fell to a well-judged catch by Vinay Kumar who managed to maintain his balance just inside the rope.
With the pitch playing slower as the innings progress even the normally free-scoring Albie Morkel could only manage an unbeaten 20 off 17 balls.
Bangalore started their innings aggressively with Pandey hitting Morkel through the covers for two fours in the first over, with Kallis punching Manpreet Gony past point for two more boundaries in the next over before edging a drive to be caught behind.
Van der Merwe was sent in as a pinch hitter but after being dropped by Muttiah Muralitharan back-pedalling at mid-off against Morkel in the third over he was bowled next ball.
But Pandey continued to bat fluently and found ideal support from Dravid as the pair added 72 for the third wicket before Pandey missed a sweep against left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati in the 13th over.
Dravid was leg before to Muralitharan, who bowled superbly to take one for 15 in four overs, but Kohli and New Zealander Ross Taylor both hit sixes as Bangalore won with seven balls to spare.
“It was a brilliant show, everyone rallied round,” said Anil Kumble, who took over the captaincy from England's Kevin Pietersen when Bangalore were languishing in seventh place on the log - the same position they finished last year.
Kumble hailed the contribution of Pandey and Kohli, 20, and highlighted their positive approach to batting.
“That's the way the current youngsters bat,” he said.
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.”
Dhoni said his team were disappointed but paid tribute to Bangalore.
“They bowled better than us,” he said. “The wicket was a bit slow but we were looking for 160. We lost wickets at the wrong times.”
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.”
Scoreboard
CHENNAI SUPER KINGS
P.A. Patel lbw b Kallis 36
M.L. Hayden c Pandey b V. Kumar 26
M.S. Dhoni c V. Kumar b van der Merwe 28
S.K. Raina c Boucher b P. Kumar 20
J.A. Morkel not out 20
J.D.P. Oram c Uthappa b V. Kumar 9
S. Badrinath not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-3) 6
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 146
FALL OF WKTS 1-61, 2-69, 3-104, 4-125, 5-140.
DID NOT BAT S.B. Jakati, L. Balaji, M.S. Gony, M. Muralitharan.
BOWLING P. Kumar 4-0-26-1; Kallis 4-0-26-1 (1w); V. Kumar 4-0-38-2; Kumble 4-0-30-1; van der Merwe 4-0-23-1 (2w).
BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS
J.H. Kallis c Patel b Gony 9
M.K. Pandey b Jakati 48
R.E. van der Merwe b Morkel 2
R. Dravid lbw b Muralitharan 44
V. Kohli not out 24
L.R.P.L. Taylor not out 17
EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-2) 5
TOTAL (for four wkts, 18.5 overs) 149
FALL OF WKTS 1-17, 2-22, 3-94, 4-110.
DID NOT BAT R.V. Uthappa, M.V. Boucher, P. Kumar, A. Kumble, V. Kumar.
BOWLING Morkel 3-0-26-1; Gony 2-0-23-1 (1nb); Jakati 4-0-29-1; Raina 3-0-23-0; Muralitharan 4-0-15-1; Balaji 2-0-16-0; Oram 0.5-0-14-0 (1nb).
RESULT Bangalore Royal Challengers won by six wickets.
UMPIRES R.E. Koertzen (South Africa) and S.J.A. Taufel (Australia).
TV UMPIRE I.L. Howell (South Africa).
MATCH REFEREE Javagal Srinath (India).
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH Manish Pandey. —AFP