(Cricinfo) Royal Challengers Bangalore were inspired by their bowlers and a delightful half-century from Rahul Dravid in a seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders that propelled them to second place in the points table. In front of a boisterous crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the teams served up an exciting encounter that, for much of its duration, retained the frenetic flow that Twenty20 was meant to provide. Kolkata’s big names blazed with the bat but their performance was undermined by some crafty bowling in the middle overs. Bangalore’s successful chase combined Dravid’s conventional touch with Robin Uthappa’s ruthless flourish to seal a morale-boosting victory and leave Kolkata struggling in the bottom three.
Anil Kumble’s decision to field had been prompted by Bangalore’s good track record while chasing at the Chinnaswamy and his batsmen didn’t let him down. But the victory had been set up by a combined effort with the ball which redressed the damage caused by poor spells at the start of Kolkata’s innings. In conditions favouring swing and movement, Praveen Kumar and Dale Steyn had dragged the ball too short and provided much width that Sourav Ganguly (33 of 32 balls) and Chris Gayle (34 of 15 balls) dealt with harshly. Sixty-one runs came in the Powerplay, the highest for Kolkata this IPL, and they had gotten there through a series of cuts, pulls and drives that their opening pair used with relentless regularity. Jacques Kallis, too, bowled short and was slashed by Ganguly over third man and Kumble, expensive in his first over, was late-cut for four.
Dravid has hardly been noticed this IPL, with Kallis’ success at the top and the power-packed batting of Uthappa and Virat Kohli often resulting in him dropping down the order. Short of opportunities, and after the early departure of Kallis, Dravid kept Bangalore’s chase on track, rarely ever attempting a rash stroke and finding the boundary with ease, relying on timing than power and using the pace of the ball.
Three fours from Ishant Sharma in an over, underlined the ease with which he scored. A full delivery was guided late past third man, a short delivery was cut hard through point and a slower ball was met with a firm push to the straight boundary. A break in the trend was a swung six off Ajit Agarkar over long-on, but as if to reinforce his original approach, the next ball, a half-volley, was driven over the cover boundary for six. Dravid had consistently struck the ball through the line, and he holed out doing the same, lofting a slower one off Mathews.
By the time Uthappa took off, Bangalore were 103 for 2 in the 14th over and favourties to wrap up the game. Having changed the course of two games this IPL, against Punjab and Chennai, both at home, in the matter of an over, he sought to shut out Kolkata with a brutal assault. He cleared his left foot to flat-bat a six off Mathews and reserved much of the treatment for Mendis, who was reverse-swept for two sixes, interspersed with a slog-sweep through midwicket. He and Ross Taylor combined to smote 62 in under four overs, rush Bangalore to a thumping win and distance themselves, for now, from the mid-table scrap for the final four.
