RCB outplays CSK to reach the finals

Bangalore Royal Challengers who were looking down and out of the tournament at half way stage will take on Chennai Super Kings in the second semi final of IPL 2009. Going by the form it’s very hard to predict the winner of 2nd Semi Finals, since both the teams entered into the semi finals after a roller coaster ride.

Manish Pandey

 Royal Challengers Bangalore is boosted by the century from young lad Manish Pandey during their last round-robin league match against Deccan Chargers. In the same game they have showed how well they are playing. It’s not easy for Chennai to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore. It does all depend on how Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman tackles spin duo (Muralitharan and Ashwin) of Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai have both sputtered and smacked in recent matches, on the one hand being beaten by the Kolkata Knight Riders after posting 188 yet bouncing back to clinch a low-scoring thriller over Kings XI Punjab. Bangalore has won four in a row and can rightfully stare Chennai in the eye.

MS Dhoni’s gamble failed at a crucial moment on Saturday night, costing Team Chennai dear. Dhoni threw the ball to Suresh Raina with 26 to get in 18 balls, hoping that the part-timer will again strike gold. It was not to be. Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli waited for the right deliveries dispatched them into the stands and it was all but over for Team Chennai. Dhoni hadn’t given the ball to Jacob Oram till then, while Albie Morkel had one left and Balaji two. But the skipper believed in his instincts, and for once, he was proved wrong as the Royal Challengers won by six wickets with more than an over to spare. If Kohli and Taylor put the icing on the cake, the spadework was done by Man-of-the-Match Manish Pandey and Rahul Dravid. A 72-run third-wicket partnership was just what Royal Challengers were looking for after losing two quick wickets. Pandey looked like a veteran in his temperament, choosing the right balls to hit. There was nothing brutal about his efforts, two sweetly timed front-foot drives in the first over set it up for Vijay Mallya’s boys. And with Dravid joining him, it seemed the two were playing with ice-packs on their heads. The crowd grew loud, the music louder, but not for once Pandey and Dravid lost focus. When the boundaries weren’t coming, they looked for the singles and the asking-rate hovered around the seven-mark. Dhoni threw the ball to his magician Mutiah Muralitharan with the hope that something will happen. It didn’t. Earlier, CSK managed to notch up 146 running on their team effort. Parthiv, Hayden, Dhoni, Raina, Morkel all contributing 20’s and 30’s to take the total to 146. It was rather inspired captaincy from Anil Kumble that helped restrict CSK. Anil, leading the team from the front won 7 matches out of 9.

The last two teams of IPL-1; are the finalists in IPL-2.