What an incredible match ! He who said that Cricket is a game of dire vicissitudes is right after all !
In a very high scoring match ( more than 400 runs were scored off 40 overs ), Bangalore (215/8) edged out South Australian Redbacks (214) by two wickets. Glorious innings from centurion Harris and Ferguson (70) enabled SA to score a mammoth 214. Bangalore started violently, with Gayle, Dilshan and Kohli carrying the attack to the bowlers end. Kohli played the best innings of his T20 career and his 70 contained six mighty sixes !
Here is how the drama unfolded.
The 20th over
The stuff of which heavenly tales are made off. SIx runs needed off the last ball and Arun Karthik belts it for six !
Daniel Christian bowls the last ball and Karthik slog sweeps it for six. The crowd erupts into delirium !
The 19th over
Tait bowls a beamer to Dilshan and the next ball the Sri Lankan is castled. putting the end to an incredible 74 off 47 balls. Vettori and Bhatkal get out Tait gets a glorious five for and RCB tumbles from 183/2
to 201/7!
The 18th over
Agarwal belts O Brien for a six, but perishes. Vettori begins with six and now 18 needed off 12.
Virat Kohli was excited after the match. "Never been in such an exciting T20 match all my life." said the dashing youngster, after he received the Man of the Match Award.
Asked to relive the moment when KB Arun Karthik hit that stunning six, Kohli said "I had my eyes closed on the last ball. I was talking to our coach when two balls were left. Thought if we could get boundary and a two so that scores are tied."
The team management relied a lot on the start that Chris Gayle and Tillekaratne Dilshan provided. "We thought if Chris and Dilshan could bat five or six overs, we had a fair chance.I was calm and relaxed, but of course you can't stay assured chasing a target such as 215."
Kohli's skipper Daniel Vettori was equally at loss of words after the match. "Pretty amazing game of cricket. One thing about this ground is you can chase anything here. The last five overs that we bowled were really poor. Harris and Callum and Dan Christian batted extremely well." said Vettori.
"The dew does change this wicket. The new ball turns a bit, but once it becomes soft, it's really difficult. However, the class of the batsmanship coupled with the wicket was amazing."
On the contrary, Callum Ferguson, who played another "callous" innings was dejected that his side could not pull it off. "Obviously, it's disappointing to not defend 214. Dan Harris and Dan Christian batted well, Tait came back with the ball and went bang bang bang, but Virat and Dilshan batted beautifully. We were backing our bowlers to execute despite the dew, disappointed not to do that."
Comments