BANGALORE: Royal Challengers breezed into the final of the Champions League T20 cricket tournament. The Bangalore side subdued another Australian outfit, New South Wales Blues, by four wickets with nine balls to spare in a rip-roaring semi-final at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday.
Asking New South Wales to bat after winning the toss, RCB had to chase a mammoth 204, which they achieved in style. Mohammed Kaif struck two successive fours to score the eight needed off the last two overs as the stadium exploded with unbridled joy.
If the Blues had David Warner (123 n.o., 68b, 4x6, 11x6) and Daniel Smith (62, 42b, 7x4, 3x6) as their heroes who set up that huge total, RCB had the rampaging Chris Gayle (92, 41b, 8x4, 8x6) and vintage Virat Kohli (84 n.o., 49b, 10x4, 3x6), man of the match for a second straight game, to power RCB home. While Warner and Smith put on 146 for the second wicket, Gayle and Kohli added 141 for the same wicket and that proved to be decisive as they went on the rampage and ensured RCB always had their neck in front.
At one stage, RCB had scored 33 more runs in the chase. After five overs it was RCB 55 for 1 to NSW’s 35 for 1. At the half way mark, the game was more or less won and lost. For RCB had made 109 for 1 to their opponents’ 76 for 1. By the 15th over it was 171 for 3 for RCB while the Australians made 137 for 1 at the same stage. The result was foregone conclusion by the time the final five overs were bowled even though they lost Gayle, Saurabh Tiwary and Mayank Agarwal in quick succession.
A flick of the wrist and the ball was going, going and gone. That was Gayle at his destructive best. One six hit the roof, another sailed over it. Suffice it to say that the Australians were simply swept away by his brutal power. He more than matched Warner in his despatch of the ball over the boundary. Virat was the perfect complement. He drove with precision, cut and pulled with grace and despite not taking the aerial route often earlier, caused enough dent in the NSW attack to the extent that none of the bowlers made any impression on the duo.
By the time Gayle was out leg before to Cummins, who claimed three wickets but would always rue dropping Kohli when he was on 44, RCB were home and dry. Kohli farmed the bowling and kept the scoreboard ticking. Two lofted shots that sailed into the crowd off Henriques, brought the team closer and Kaif finished if off in style in the 19th over.
Earlier, Warner and Smith two compactly built batsmen, more in the mould of Australian Rules Football players, produced innings of controlled aggression to make mincemeat of the Royal Challengers attack as NSW posted a commendable 203-2 in 20 overs. Warner was the more aggressive of the two. He drove, pulled and slam-banged the bowlers to hammer 11 sixes. Smith was all cuts, nudges, pushes and prods but was not the one to be content with just that. He too smacked the bowlers and slammed seven fours and three sixes in his knock.