Mahendra Singh Dhoni may be India's Twenty20 World Cup-winning skipper, but on Saturday, Test veteran Anil Kumble taught him a trick or two in the art of captaincy with regards to the shortest version of the game
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The Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper had his hand on the pulse of the game way better than the current India captain as he led his team to a comprehensive six-wicket victory (with seven balls to spare) over Chennai Super Kings in the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League at the Wanderers.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble (left) congratulates Vinay Kumar after he dismissed the dangerous Jacob Oram of Chennai Super Kings during the IPL semi-final on Saturday. PIC/AFP |
Super Kings were off to a fine start of 61 in seven overs before Kumble pulled things back.
Among his inspired moves were to bring Jacques Kallis back for the ninth over of the innings even after the bowler had gone for 21 in his first two overs. Kallis gave away only two runs and picked up the wicket of the well-set Parthiv Patel. In his second spell, Kallis bowled two brilliant overs, conceding just five runs in 12 balls to finish with figures of 4-0-26-1.
Kumble's other big decision was to introduce Praveen Kumar in the 15th over for his second spell. Praveen took the big wicket of the in-form Suresh Raina to put the brakes on Kings. Then, Vinay Kumar vindicated Kumble's decision to give him the final over. He was their most expensive bowler having conceded 32 runs off three overs till that brilliant last over. He bowled three dot balls in a row, including a wicket off the second.
In contrast, nothing worked for Dhoni. He held back his trump cards Muttiah Muralitharan and L Balaji for too long. By then, the game had slipped.
Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 146 for 5 (Parthiv Patel 36, Matthew Hayden 26, M S Dhoni 28; R Vinay Kumar 2-38) lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 149 for 4 (M Pandey 48, Rahul Dravid 44, Virat Kohli not out 24, Ross Taylor not out 17) by six wickets.
Man of the Match: Manish Pandey
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