Akhil blitz scripts Bangalore win

Roal Challengers win by 5 wickets. Hyderabad’s deadly opening pair of Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs put on 101 for the first wicket but a batting collapse restricted them to 165 as the home side were bowled out in 19.4 overs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday.

The challenging target for Bangalore could have been a daunting one had Hyderabad’s middle and lower order carried on their openers’ good work. But they lost entire side in a space of seven overs, adding only 61 runs. Only four Hyderabad batsmen reached double digits..

Bangalore in a surprise move started the game with Anil Kumble bowling the first over. The veteran leg-spinner’s match winning effort against Chennai was perhaps the primary reason, not to mention Bangalore’s pacers total inability to curb the flow of runs with the new ball. The move paid off but only to a certain extent.

While Hyderabad started off slowly against Kumble and Dale Steyn, the dynamic openers opened their shoulders after the initial overs. Kumble gave only nine runs in two overs while Steyn gave 18 off his three.

But the tide turned with the ball handed to the Jacques Kallis and company. Hyderabad openers upped the ante and runs started flourishing

Gibbs, who has been disappointing in the tournament, gave a glimpse of what the South African was capable of. Overshadowing Gilchrist, Gibbs started flourishing smashing six boundaries and two sixes. Gilchrist too soon came into his own, hitting Balachandran Akhil for two trademark sixes and a boundary of the 11th over.

Hyderabad it seemed were running away with the game and Dravid had no option but to bring Kumble back and the leg-spinner delivered once again. Gibbs stepped down the wicket to Kumble after his team had brought up the hundred in the 12th over and missed the ball completely to be stumped for a 34-ball 47. Hyderabad were 101-1 at that stage.

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