Kallis classic knocks out KXIP

Kallis classic knocks out KXIP


Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore have won an ultimately lopsided match against Kings XI Punjab thanks to a Jacques Kallis classic.

RCB got to their target of 204 with seven wickets in hand and with seven balls to spare.

Kallis played a gem of an innings, one only he can play. The South African took time to settle in, but once he was in, no bowler was spared. Manish Pandey’s cameo of 38 helped Kallis immensely. Pandey and Kallis had a partnership of 74 before the Indian opener was dismissed by Piyush Chawla.

The tall South African played a chanceless innings scoring 89* off 55 balls (8x4, 5x6). It was mainly thanks to his effort that RCB achieve their target of 204 with time to spare, seven balls to be exact.

He also played a part with the bowling, taking one wicket for 39 runs.

Pandey’s fall saw Robin Uthappa come in. Bengaluru then got a brief taste of that intoxicating brew called Robin Uthappa. Nobody has ever doubted Uthappa’s talent, but he has somehow failed to live up to those expectations. But today saw a different Uthappa take the field. Sreesanth’s third over saw Uthappa at his best, laying into the fast bowler to hammer 25 runs, making it the most expensive over of IPL 2010. The over analysis looked like a pin code: 6, 2,6,6,4 and 1. He scored 51 off 21 balls.

At first, Kings XI Punjab’s decision to bat first seemed to be the right one with their openers putting up a 129-run partnership by the 15th over. Manvinder Bisla played a chancy innings, but managed to stay at the crease to score 75 off 51 balls (7x4, 4x6). The Haryana-born wicket-keeper-batsman overshadowed his more experienced partner Ravi Bopara. Bopara, though, stayed steady and scored 77 before being bowled by Praveen Kumar.

Both the captains had an ordinary outing with Sangakkara not being able to defend a big total and Anil Kumble had a bad day at the office getting hit on the wrist by a Bisla thunderbolt.

The loss will mean KXIP will go to the bottom of the points table, with RCB opening their account with two points.