The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : RCB wins despite Yuvraj’s brilliance

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RCB wins despite Yuvraj’s brilliance

— Photo: AFP

GOOD SHOW: Anil Kumble not only picked up the wicket of Yuvraj Singh but also lead Royal Challengers Bangalore admirably in sealing the thrilling win.

Durban: Skipper Yuvraj’s Singh hat-trick and a stroke-filled 50 went in vain for Kings XI Punjab as a resilient Royal Challengers Bangalore, defending 145, scored an eight-run win in an exciting IPL encounter at Kingsmead on Friday.

Kings XI required 13 off the last over but managed only four runs — a boundary off the second ball — even as medium pacer Praveen Kumar dismissed Irfan Pathan and Piyush Chawla with clever changes in pace.

Skipper Anil Kumble had sent down a terrific penultimate over — he conceded just four runs while bowling at Kumar Sangakkara — to set up a fascinating climax.

Yuvraj’s blazing effort seemed to have put Kings XI Punjab on course but Royal Challengers kept picking wickets at critical moments. After his blitzkrieg with the willow, Roelof van der Merwe fielded brilliantly at short third-man to combine with Mark Boucher in running out Simon Katich and then prised out Mahela Jayawardene with his left-arm spin.

The Royal Challengers has six points from seven matches and Kings XI six from six games.

Explosive innings

Earlier, Yuvraj exploded into as barrage of strokes after promoting himself up the order. The left-hander’s 34-ball 50 (3x4, 4x6) was high on entertainment and value.

Yuvraj’s hat-trick was the high point of the Challengers’ innings.

The Kings XI captain struck with his fifth ball of the 12th over — his second — when Robin Uthappa (19) attempted a swipe against the spin and was well held by Katich at deep mid-wicket. Yuvraj castled Kallis with an arm-ball off the over’s final delivery. Yuvraj, then, struck with the first ball off the 14th over, trapping Mark Boucher (2) leg-before with a quicker arm-ball that fizzed off the surface.

Earlier, after Kumble elected to bat, his side reeled at 38 for three in the seventh over after early strikes by left-armers Irfan Pathan and Yusuf Abdullah. Kallis (27 off 22 balls) and Uthappa (19 off 17) provided the innings some momentum before Yuvraj’s three-in-three act. Royal Challengers recovered when the strongly built Roelof van der Merve biffed 35 (3x4, 3x6) off just 19 deliveries.

Abdullah took a pounding but came back well to end up with four wickets in the innings and 13 — he overtook Lasith Malinga as the highest wicket-taker — in the competition so far.

SCOREBOARD

Royal Challengers Bangalore: J. Ryder c Jayawardene b Irfan 2, S. Goswami c Chawla b Abdulla 10, R. Bishnoi c Chawla b Abdulla 18, J. Kallis b Yuvraj 27, R. Uthappa c Katich b Yuvraj 19, V. Kohli c Chawla b Pathan 16. M. Boucher lbw b Yuvraj 2, R. van der Merwe c Irfan b Abdulla 35, Praveen (not out) 9, A. Kumble b Abdulla 1, K.P. Appanna (not out) 0, Extras (b-1, lb-1, w-4) 6; Total (for nine in 20 overs) 145.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-27, 3-38, 4-80, 5-80, 6-84, 7-128, 8-133, 9-136.

Kings XI Punjab bowling: Irfan 4-0-19-2, Malik 3-0-29-0, Abdulla 4-1-36-4, Powar 1-0-8-0, Chawla 4-0-29-0, Yuvraj 4-0-22-3.

Kings XI Punjab: Yuvraj c Kallis b Kumble 50; K. Goel c Kohli b van der Merwe 20, S. Katich run out 3, K. Sangakkara b Kumble 17, M. Jayawardene c Kallis b van der Merwe 19, Irfan c Kohli b Praveen 12, P. Chawla b Praveen 3, R. Powar (not out) 0, T. Srivastava (not out) 0, Extras (b-4, lb-6, w-3) 13; Total (for seven in 20 overs) 137.

Fall of wickets: 1-70, 2-73, 3-84, 4-116, 5-129, 6-137, 7-137.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Praveen 4-0-27-2, Kallis 3-0-19-0, Ryder 4-0-24-0, van der Merwe 3-0-22-2, Kumble 4-0-25-2, Appanna 2-0-10-0.

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