Roth Regatta

Young Virat Kohli and Robin uthappa help Royal Challengers Bangalore ( RCB ) defeat Kings XI Punjab ( KXIP ) by 6 wickets

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Bangalore: Preity Zinta must be cursing the day she bought the Punjab team. All her hard work, money which she put on KXIP have gone in vain. Their best chance was in 2008 IPL when they reached the s

emis, but now its all over for KXIP in the current IPL. Thanks to sloppy fielding and poor bowling once again. The speedster Brett Lee’s cost the match. He bowled too many length balls to Uthappa and the southpaw slapped 2 sixes in an over and a four too. Rest Lee did by bowling a wide ball which went for boundary in the same over. 25 runs off his over and suddenly the required run rate dropped from 12 runs per over to just 7.5 runs per over.

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The fielders wanted to give tough competition to Lee and they dropped 2 catches in same over and that too of Kevin Pieterson. What a display of competition between bowlers and fielders to win the match for other teams. RCB looked like going to lose the match when they lost Manish Pandey in the 7th over for just 54 on the board. But thanks to Pieterson (66*) who held the fort from

one end and to Kohli(42) with Uthappa(22) who played small cameos for their team. Four bowlers gave more than 10 runs per over. Lee (12), Srivastava(10.50), Chawla(11) and Pathan (11.36) made mess of their own bowling.
Earlier, KXIP scored a very good total of 181 in their 20 overs. Though they lost Marsh early however some fine innings from Sangakkara (45), Bopara(42*) and Yuvi(36) which helped them to score a fighting total. Pathan played a small sparkling innings of 16 runs in which he scored 2 fours and a six and played only 5 balls. Kallis was the only bowler who bowled in contrast to his counterparts. He gave 45 runs in his 4 overs.
Now KXIP can only spoil other team’s party from reaching the semis. The fans doubt so. Hope they would at least prove themselves now. RCB are again back to winning matches. Should be the second team after MI to reach the semis.
Post Match Presentation
Kevin Pietersen is the Man of the Match He says: “It was a great victory. We let maybe a few too many, but Robin Uthappa’s innings is some of the best hitting I have ever seen. I saw it on the TV from Bangladesh, but to watch it live from the other end was something else. I happily played the anchor role. I have played against Brett in Tests, and to hit him like that, all credit to Robin.”
Anil Kumble “It was a good wicket to bat on, it got a bit slower, but we knew we could get it. The way KP, Virat and Robin – his innings changed the game – batted was satisfactory. It is a good win for us after two losses in a row, chasing 180.”
Kumar Sangakkara “It does hurt. Big total on the board, we bowled well in the first 10, but the fielding let us down. That;s the story of the tournament. We have had opportunities, we haven’t delivered.”
Toss: Kumara Sangakkara who is back to Captain Kings XI Punjab, has won the toss and decided to bat first. Royal Challengers are fielding the same team however, there are three changes in the Punjab team. Sreesanth, Sanga and Bipul come in place of Vikramjeet, Mahela and Karan.
Squads:
Kings XI Punjab:
SE Marsh, RS Bopara, MS Bisla, Yuvraj Singh, KC Sangakkara*†, IK Pathan, PP Chawla, B Lee, SJ Srivastava, Bipul Sharma, S Sreesanth
Royal Challengers Bangalore:
JH Kallis, MK Pandey, RV Uthappa†, V Kohli, R Dravid, KP Pietersen, CL White, P Kumar, A Kumble*, R Vinay Kumar, DW Steyn