10: RCB vs KKR

The 10th match saw a return to the beautiful home stadium of the Royal Challengers Bangalore, but it was a surprise result for RCB who have become used to leaving with 2 points safely in the bag in the last year or so. It was an interesting contest that turned in different directions, as 20/20s often do, with Kolkata picking up a much needed win.

Vettori won the toss and decided to have a bowl, Gambhir admitting he'd have done the same, on a pitch that offered reward for bowlers capable of regularly hitting the right areas. This was immediately on show as Zaheer produced a good first over, having Kallis playing and missing, clearly troubled by the seam movement on offer. Unfortunately for RCB they struggled to keep this up as Kallis and Gambhir produced a classy opening partnership, with the KKR skipper in ominously good touch, as they raced along to 60/0 from the first 6, the most successful powerplay seen yet. Kallis' wicket brought in Bisla who immediately showed good intent in his role as pinch hitter, dancing up the pitch to near every ball he faced! Gambhir brought up his 50 from just 28 balls and then happily played 2nd fiddle to the adventurous Bisla. They had reached 125/1 in the 14th over when Bisla was inevitably stumped off the bowling of Murali for a well played 46, which prompted a real slump from KKR as RCB bowled brilliantly to restrict the scoring to just 165/8 when they'd been looking at 180+. The star of the show was undoubtedly their new signing Vinay Kumar, a player yet to convince in longer formats but a serious 20/20 bowler, as he produced his wide array of variations to take 4-0-18-2 and prove difficult to score off. The platform set by Gambhir and Bisla should have led to a massive score but a terrific last 6 for RCB, led by Murali and Vinay, left their side in the driving seat at the half way mark.

With a top order comprimising of Gayle, Kohli and AB de Villiers a total of 165 on a sporting track looked highly gettable. However, the KKR seamers had other ideas as the top 4 were sent back inside the first 8 overs with the score at just 25/4 and the game over from there. The combination of the experienced Kallis and Lee were always going to be under pressure to get the necessary early wickets and they were right on their game as pace, bounce and movement unsettled both openers. Kallis took the big wicket of Gayle, you could sense that KKR were on top from there, with some sharp bounce and then Balaji got the next 2 danger men when he entered the attack. It can only help a bowler like Balaji to be in and around the likes of Lee, Kallis and Akram and he bowled the perfect lines to exploit the movement there. He bowled a beauty to AB that clipped the top of off stump and ended the match with 4-18 and rightfully MoM. Its vital to get the big RCB top 4 early and then as a side you know you're in a good position and KKR did just this. No RCB batsman got going, with perhaps the exception of a well improvised 20 from Vettori, in what was the perfect performance from the KKR bowlers in restricting the opposition to 123/9 and comfortably short of the target. A great all round team effort.

KKR were under great pressure going into this game, having started with 2 defeats despite spending lots of money at the auction, whilst on the other hand RCB are a real favourite this year and the return of Gayle was expected to bring the win that was expected of them. It is always pleasing to see one of the domestic players get MoM and it was richly deserved by Balaji as he consolidated the good work from Gambhir and Bisla earlier on to see KKR to their first win of 2012.