Chennai finally notch up a win against Bangalore

Murali Vijay spanked a 39-ball 78 as his side Chennai Super Kings overcame a spirited Royal Challengers Bangalore to notch up their third win in the tournament. >

Batting first after winning the toss, the Royal Challengers Bangalore lost Manish Pandey early, but the player of the tournament so far, Jacques Kallis added a quick-fire 42 for the second wicket with Robin Uthappa. Uthappa, who was also supposed to keep wickets in the game was particularly in a murderous mood, after being dropped on a zero. >

However, the advent of spinners not only slowed the things down but also got the Super Kings a couple of wickets. Shadab Jakati stuck with the wicket of Uthappa, but at the other end, Kallis went on collecting his runs and readied himself for the final assault. Virat Kohli, who had joined Kallis also went about his business in a workman like manner as the pitch began to assist the slower bowlers.

The pair added 63 runs for the third wicket but took 51 balls to do so, and just when one thought they were about to accelerate, both fell at the same score. At 117/4 with 27 balls to go and two new batsmen at the crease, it did look like the things could get difficult for the Bangalore side. However, Kevin Pietersen, who was just fresh from his tour of Bangladesh and Cameron White, added a 44 off 27 balls to take the side to relative safety of 161/4 in the 20 overs.

The Chennai reply was surprising. Hayden was the quieter of the two openers, as Vijay went hell for leather smashing Praveen Kumar for 24 runs in his second over. Hayden struggled at the other end, and was stumped by Uthappa off the bowling of Kumble, but Suresh Raina’s cool batting ensured that the target was very achieveable.

Even when Vijay departed after having spanked six sixes and four boundaries, the Super Kings needed only 58 for a win and they had 55 balls remaining. Dhoni came and went, and as did Morkel and Badrinath to make the game interesting for a while, but with 9 runs needed off 8 balls, Raina hit a six to seal the fate.

Vijay was the obvious choice for the man of the match.