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A whirlwind 68 (38 balls) from Robin Uthappa, which consisted of 6 huge sixes, propelled the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a more than competetive 171 before a clinical bowling performance helped restrict the Super Kings to 135, a 36 run loss for the Chennai outfit. Uthappa's ferocious innings set the game up for Bangalore and Vinay Kumar's splendid bowling effort backed it up, as Anil Kumble's side notched up its fourth consecutive win in the tournament to take solitary control of pole position in the Indian Premier League.

Having won the toss; stand-in skipper Suresh Raina elected to bowl despite faltering in their chase of 136 against the Kings XI Punjab in the last game Chennai played; probably keeping in mind the fact that the Royal Challengers have won their last three games at the Chinnaswamy batting second. Chennai made two changes to their side - one forced and the other strategic. George Bailey was drafted in place of the injured Justin Kemp while Manpreet Gony's lacklustre performance against Punjab meant that young Sudeep Tyagi got a look in. Anil Kumble, as expected did not touch his winning combination.

Opening combinations have been the story of the IPL so far for Bangalore and while the Jacques Kallis - Manish Pandey duo weren't too bad today, they were definitely not in top gear. Albie Morkel celebrated on his third ball of the day, thinking he had Kallis out for the first time in the tournament only for Russel Tiffin to deny the appeal. Two overs later, Kallis swiped Morkel to third-man where L Balaji failed to spot the ball in the lights only for it to race away to the fence. Kallis, meanwhile kept playing his shots before he was finally taken out by Balaji. Shuffling across the off-stump he tried to whip a length delivery over the on-side and was clean bowled in the process.

His dismissal brought in an expectedly rusty Rahul Dravid out (given the little time he has had at the crease), but the former Bangalore skipper produced a cameo, studded with three beautiful shots. His promising innings was cut short by a Muttiah Muralitharan top-spinner, taking the off-stump out, and when Pandey miscued a shot off the same bowler a couple of overs later, Bangalore were down to 63/3 with two new batsmen in.

Robin Uthappa isn't one to be bogged down though, and he chose the moment to do a Yuvraj Singh. He twice reverse-swept Muralitharan, once failing, and then connecting for a boundary. Virat Kohli also settled in pretty quickly and with both players taking their chances well, the hundred came up in the 15th over, post which the batsmen went on the offensive. Kohli was foxed soon after by Muralitharan and once Eoin Morgan fell cheaply to Morkel, it was an-all Uthappa show.

Starting off with a towering six off Morkel, Uthappa produced six huge sixes in the last four overs - three of them coming of a hapless Balaji - and with Mark Boucher joining in with one of his own, Bangalore had managed 61 off the last 24 balls. 24 of those runs came off a Balaji's over, with one shot even hitting the roof! Bangalore amazingly finished with 171.

Having finished their innings on a high, Bangalore began their defence in similar fashion. Bowling from round the wicket to Parthiv Patel, Praveen Kumar got a swinging delivery to kiss the bat on its way to the keeper. Raina pushed George Bailey one-down, but the Tasmanian failed to impress looking totally out of place playing his first game of the series. Struggling to get started against Dale Steyn's pace and Praveen Kumar's guile, Bailey was then completely at sea when he came up against Anil Kumble.

With Chennai reeling at 29/1 at the end of the powerplay the pressure kept mounting on Hayden and though the Mongoose bat got him three consecutive boundaries off a Kallis over, the shackles were far from broken. It was Vinay Kumar who yet again provided Bangalore with that game-breaking over. With Chennai just beginning to pick some momentum, Hayden was unfortunate to be run-out off a Dravid direct-hit before the struggling Bailey was put out of his misery by Kumar. At 61/3 at the mid-point stage of the innings, Chennai found themselves in a similar position as Bangalore but when Suresh Raina miscued Vinay Kumar to wide third man two overs later, the game looked fast slipping away from the yellow jerseys.

Badrinath kept the fight going for a while but with the required run rate crossing 15 rpo, it was a case of too little too late. Around the 16th over mark in the Bangalore innings was when Uthappa exploded. For Chennai, Badrinath fell off the final delivery off the 15th and with that the innings combusted. Uthappa's whirlwind was what made the difference in the end.

With that win, Bangalore has leapfrogged Mumbai at the top and with the side in such sublime form, one can't helps but wonder where Kevin Pietersen would fit in the batting order when he arrives in India later during the week! The Super Kings are fourth in the table, edging out the Knight Riders and Daredevils on net run rate. They travel to Mumbai next with the only saving grace being the possibility of super skipper and lucky charm MS Dhoni returning.

Mini Scorecard:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 171/5 (20 overs, 8.55 rpo)
Uthappa 68 (38)             Muralitharan 3/25
Kohli 24 (16)

Chennai Super Kings 135/7 (20 overs, 6.75 rpo)
Hayden 32 (28)               Vinay Kumar 4/40
Badrinath 31 (17)

Also Read:

Match Preview -Kings XI Punjab vs. Rajasthan Royals

File Photograph Copyright: Michael Henn

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