Saurav Ganguly and McCullum came in to open the innings as usual.  Ganguly gave Mark Boucher a straight catch off the bowling of Vinay Kumar who bowled intelligently.  He got AN Ghosh out to similar delivery again giving a straight catch to wicketkeeper Boucher.

David Hussey making his presence felt in the team, showed his aggressiveness from the start of the innings hitting Kallis for a six and a four in the first few balls he faced.  He scored 11 runs off of Kallis in the sixth over. Ryder came in and bowled the seventh over going for 8 runs.  Anil Kumble brought himself into the attack to take a few wickets and control the run rate.  He bowled a good tight first over for only 1 run but went for 12 runs in the 10th over.  KKR were 69 for the loss of two wickets at the end of the 10 over strategy break.

After the strategy break, Ryder came in to bowl the 11th over and went for only 7 runs which included 4 leg byes.  Both Hussey and McCullum ensured that singles were coming and ensured the run rate of about 7 an over.  Right around when things were looking good for KKR one of the few rare occasions in the tournament, Hussey got cleaned bowled by Akhil for 43.  The 100 for Knight Riders came in the 14.4 overs at a rate of 6.8 per over.

Anil Kumble showed a great gesture when Angelo Mathews (IPL debut) hit Kumble for 4 runs, Akhil was the fielder.  Akhil dived right in front of the ball, Kumble rightly gestured not to jump in front of the ball as the ball might hit the head.  Kumble went for 11 runs in that over, with both McCullum and Matthews hitting him for a four each.  16th over served a big bonanza for KKR as McCullum hit Akhil for 2 huge sixes and scoring 20 runs in that over.  Matthews was out in the very next over giving a simple catch to Kohli at long-on.  He scored a quick 16 off only 13 balls with two fours.

McCullum showed some amazing improvisations scooping Vinay Kumar for two consecutive fours and then hits Kumar for another four over fine leg, this time not choosing to scoop.  A fine innings by McCullum who performs absolute carnage by hitting Vinay for 3 consecutive fours, who seemed helpless from the other end and going for 16 runs in the 19th over.

Royal Bangalore Challengers open the innings with Ryder and Kallis.  Ishant who opened the bowling attack went for only 2 runs in this first over.  Ajanta Mendis got called in to bowl the second over went for five runs without picking up any wickets.  Ryder and Kallis started playing more attacking shots both hitting Sharma for 2 fours scoring 10 runs off the over.  The fourth over went for a similar punishment with Kallis hitting Agarkar for a four and six scoring 10 runs in the fourth.  Angelo Mathews who made his IPL debut today came in to bowl the fifth over but went for 9 runs in his first over.  The Royal Challengers were 37 for the loss of no wickets at the end of the fifth over.  David Hussey is called in to bowl the sixth over in the powerplay and goes for 10 runs which included a four each by both Kallis and Ryder.

Mendis is brought back into the attack to bowl the 7th over and goes for 7 runs in that over.  Kartik get the KKR the breakthrough they were looking for, getting Kallis out by a brilliant catch by McCullum, one of the best of the tournament.  The ball flew past McCullum who flew in the air and caught it single handily.  Kallis scored 32 runs off 34 bowls hitting 4 fours and a six in his innings.  Ryder was the next to depart who scored 22 runs off 20 deliveries, caught at third man off the bowling of Agarkar.  At the end of 10 overs, Royal Challengers were 70 for the loss of two wickets.

Uthappa who has failed to impress in this tournament got out again early on for seven runs off the bowling of Kartik caught at the boundary by Mathews.  The bowl was it seems came very close to his body therefore he could not get the elevation and at the end well taken by Mathews.

Rahul Dravid was the next batsmen to come through, with huge expectations from both him and Taylor.  The two needed a strong partnership if Royal Challengers had to win the match.  Taylor hit Kartik for two huge sixes scoring 14 runs off the last over.  Taylor takes Mathews to cleaners in the very next over hitting him for three fours in the same over.  At that stage, RCB needed to win 55 runs off 30 balls with the required run date of 11.  Ajanta Mendis comes back into the attack and gets Rahul Dravid out catching him off his own bowling.  Dravid scored 12 runs off of 12 deliveries.  Taylor was the only resolute with 52 runs to be scored in four overs.

Taylor took it upon himself to finish the match for Royal Challengers and scored 19 runs off of Ishant Sharma and then scoring 16 runs off Agarkar getting Challengers to need only 5 runs off the last over.  Taylor wrapper up the match by hitting Mathews for a huge six and remained unbeaten on 81.  He scored his 81 off of only 33 balls at a strike rate of 275 and was declared the man of the match.  Amazing innings by Taylor!!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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