Kallis and Dravid Guide Bangalore Alive For Semis

Johannesburg: Jacques Kallis must have lost count how many times he has done this for South Africa.

On Tuesday at the Bullring, it was Kallis’ turn to do it for Royal Challengers. 135 was a tricky chase on a difficult wicket against Team Delhi and Kallis, opening the batting, had to bring all his experience into play to keep alive the Royal Challengers dream.
 
While Bangalore went into the match in a must-win situation for the team to stay in the semis hunt, Delhi were a relaxed outfit having already qualified for the semi-finals. Virender Sehwag won the toss and chose to bat first. Delhi had some changes in the team with Dilshan, Nannes and Mishra being left out and Yogesh Nagar, Andrew McDonald and Daniel Vettori coming in. Bangalore had one change - Manish Pandey replaced Vinay Kumar.

Kallis found partners at crucial moments of the game and that helped him anchor the chase at the other end. While Rahul Dravid brought all his maturity into play to chip in with a valuable 38, Ross Taylor (25 off 12 balls) gave Royal Challengers the much-needed momentum. Taylor walked in after Dravid got out, but he didn’t lose any time to put a few into the galleries to bring the pressure down.

After Taylor was dismissed, Kallis had the company of veteran Mark Boucher. They knew it was just a matter of hanging in there. The big shots came at the right time and now Royal Challengers, with 14 points, play a virtual quarterfinal against Team Hyderabad on Thursday for a semis spot.

Earlier, a double blow in the first over by Praveen Kumar had put Delhi in a spot. Virender Sehwag couldn’t keep his flick down while Mithun Manhas gloved at attempted hook to leave the Royal Challengers on a high.

With the pitch having something in it for the pacemen, Gautam Gambhir (27) and AB de Villiers (28) knew there was no point going for big shots. They took their time against Praveen and Kallis to lend a platfrom to Delhi from where they could put up a fight.

But the Royal Challengers looked a determined lot and kept taking the wickets at the right intervals which ensured that Delhi never ran away to a big score. While a dangerous-looking De Villiers missed a cut off Van der Merwe to lose his off bail, Anil Kumble (2-24) brought his experience into play to make life a touch difficult for Team Delhi.

It was left to Dinesh Karthik (31) and Farveez Maharoof (20 n.o.) to keep it going so that the bowlers at least have something to bowl at. Karthik kept looking for the gaps, taking those singles while Maharoof tried to go for the big shot just when the opportunity presented itself. But in the end, it was Kallis who called the shots to take Royal Challengers closer to semis.

Brief Score: Royal Challengers Bangalore (Kallis 58*, Dravid 38, Taylor 25, Nagar 2-20) beat Delhi Daredevils 134 for 7 (Karthik 31, Praveen 3-30, Kumble 2-24) by seven wickets

Numbers Game

• 33 - The number of wickets falling in the first over in the tournament.
• 1 - The number of Royal Challengers Bangalore batsmen crossing 300 runs in the tournament. Jacques Kallis became the 13th batsman this season to achieve the feat during this match.
• 5.89 - Anil Kumble's economy rate in the tournament.
• 12 - The number of sixes hit by Ross Taylor this season.
• 2 - The number of players who played their first match in the tournament for Delhi. Andrew McDonald and Yogesh Nagar were handed debuts in this game.