Taylor fashions Bangalore victory

Ross Taylor hit a crucial 46 to steer Bangalore Royal Challengers to an exciting two-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings in an Indian Premier League match here on Thursday. The New Zealander added 56 for the fourth wicket with Virat Kohli (38) as Bangalore achieved a 130-run target with two balls to spare to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals.

Man-of-the-match Taylor fell in the final over after hitting one six in his sensible 50-ball knock, but his team needed just five to win at that stage. Vinay Kumar completed the victory when he smashed Jacob Oram for a four.

Kohli cracked two sixes in his 35-ball knock.

Delhi lead the eight-team competition with 16 points from 10 matches, followed by Chennai (13/11), Deccan (12/11), Bangalore (12/12), Mumbai (11/11), Rajasthan (11/11), Punjab (10/11) and Kolkata (3/11). The top four sides will qualify for the semi-finals.

Veteran Indian leg-spinner Anil Kumble earlier led Bangalore’s fightback with two wickets for just 12 runs off four overs.

Chennai were strongly placed at 101-3 following Australian opener Matthew Hayden’s brisk half-century, but lost the last seven wickets for 28 in a sensational collapse. Kumble started the slide when he had in-form Hayden caught by Kumar at deep mid-wicket. Hayden smashed three sixes and five fours in his 38-ball 60 his fourth half-century of the tournament.

Hayden propped up the innings after South African seamer Jacques Kallis had bagged two early wickets, but received no support from the other end. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the second-highest scorer with 18.

Chennai 129 in 19.4 overs (M. Hayden 60; A. Kumble 2-12, J. Kallis 2-18. V. Kumar 2-30). Bangalore 132-8 in 19.4 overs (R. Taylor 46, V. Kohli 38; J. Oram 2-12, A. Morkel 2-13).

DURBAN, South Africa, AFP