Kumble’s comeback men reach final

Chris Burnes

Indian veterans Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid shared the glory with two rising stars as the Royal Challengers Bangalore completed an astonishing comeback to reach the final of the Indian Premier League at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.

Kumble gained his seventh win in nine matches since taking over the captaincy while Dravid and two members of last year’s winning Indian Under-19 World Cup team, Manish Pandey and Virat Kohli, enabled Bangalore to beat the favoured Chennai Super Kings by six wickets with seven balls to spare.

Bangalore will meet the Deccan Chargers in the final at the same ground Sunday in a contest between the teams that filled the bottom two places on the log in the first IPL in 2008. Bangalore restricted Chennai to 146 for five with what Kumble described as an outstanding bowling performance.

Then Dravid (44) and man of the match Pandey (48) put on 72 for the third wicket to set up the Bangalore win. Kohli (24 not out) and New Zealander Ross Taylor (17 not out) both hit two sixes as they completed the victory.

“It was a brilliant show, everyone rallied round,” said 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.

Bangalore needed to win their last round robin match, against Sunday’s opponents Deccan, in Centurion Thursday to make sure of qualifying for the semi-final against Chennai, who finished second on the log. Pandey, 19, hit 114 not out against Deccan, the first century by an Indian batsman in the IPL, and continued in the same vein Saturday, striking seven boundaries before being bowled when he missed a sweep against left-arm spinner Shadap Jakati.

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.”

Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his team were disappointed but paid tribute to Bangalore.

JOHANNESBURG, Sunday, AFP

Chennai Super Kings

P. Patel lbw Kallis				36
M. Hayden c Pandey b V. Kumar			26
M. Dhoni c V. Kumar b Van der Merwe		28
S. Raina c Boucher b P. Kumar			20
A. Morkel not out				20
J. Oram c Uthappa b V. Kumar			 9
S. Badrinath not out				 1

Extras: (lb3, w3)				 6
TOTAL (8 wkts, 20 overs)			146

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-61 (Hayden), 2-69 (Patel), 3-104 (Raina), 4-125 (Dhoni), 5-140 (Oram)
DID NOT BAT: S Jakati, L. Balaji, M. Gony, M. Muralitharan 
BOWLING: P. Kumar 4-0-26-1, Kallis 4-0-26-1 (w1), V. Kumar 4-0-38-2, Kumble 4-0-30-1, Van der Merwe 4-0-23-1 (w2)

Royal Challengers Bangalore

J. Kallis c Patel b Gony			  9
M. Pandey b Jakati				 48
R. van der Merwe b Morkel			  2
R. Dravid lbw b Muralitharan			 44
V. Kohli not out				 24
R. Taylor not out				 17

Extras (lb3, nb2)				 5
TOTAL (4 wkts, 18.5 overs)			149

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-17 (Kallis), 2-22 (Van der Merwe), 3-94 (Pandey), 4-110 (Dravid)
DID NOT BAT: M. Boucher, R. Uthappa, P. Kumar, V. Kumar, A. Kumble 
BOWLING: Morkel 3-0-26-1, Gony 2-0-23-1 (nb1), 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 (nb1)