Manish Pandey century takes Bangalore to No. 3

In a campaign that has included matches insipid and inspiring Royal Challengers Bangalore have well and truly come to life. Maintaining the momentum of three consecutive wins, they pulled the rug from under Deccan Chargers' feet and went to No. 3 in the points table, setting up a semi-final clash with the Chennai Super Kings on Saturday. Deccan will play Delhi Daredevils in Friday's semi-final.

At the end of a clinical win, Bangalore can thank Manish Pandey and RP Singh. Promoting Pandey to open in a pressure situation, Bangalore nearly lost him in the third over but RP's gross misjudgment at third man settled the nerves and then some. Either cutting solidly or swatting and slapping with efficiency rather than grace, Pandey grabbed the opportunity and notched up just the second century this season - and the first by an Indian in either season. Few in South Africa would have heard of the Under-19 batsman before today but should remember him after this amazing effort.

Teams have struggled to defend under lights at Centurion, and Bangalore were put on the backfoot as Herschelle Gibbs waded into the attack. But Anil Kumble took pace off the ball and once Gibbs and Andrew Symonds were dismissed in relative succession it all got too tough for Deccan.

RP's drop in the third over came after Jacques Kallis pulled his seventh ball to short square leg. It proved a costly error. Pandey began his innings looking out of sorts, twice inside-edging Ryan Harris on the bounce to Adam Gilchrist and top-edging safely to third man. Batting as though Bangalore needed to chase 250, Pandey clouted the ball through the leg side with abandon.

Roelof van der Merwe showed a liking for RP on the leg side, twice crashing him over through and over mid-on for boundaries, and weighed in with 23 from 18 balls. After he was well stumped off Symonds in the tenth over, Pandey weighed the situation and hung on. By this time he was 33, and on resumption after the strategic break dumped T Suman's offspin for consecutive sixes to raise his half-century. Now his timing had improved considerably and Bangalore were going at seven an over.

Very strong through the leg side, Pandey's main scoring option was the swipe across the line. RP returned to bowl the 14th over and Pandey reminded him of his reprieve, swatting and edging fours. He continued the same way after Pragyan Ojha accounted for Rahul Dravid in the next over, clearing his front leg and slogging against the turn. The caress - Pandey steered Jaskaran for four - was followed by the clubbed - next ball disappeared for six - and the fortuitous - an edge beat Gilchrist for four - as Pandey moved to 97 at the end of the 17th over.

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Prime Numbers

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410
The number of runs scored by Gilchrist in the tournament. He becomes the fourth batsman to go past the 400-mark
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45
The number of runs conceded by Praveen Kumar, making it the second-most expensive spell by a Bangalore bowler this season. Kallis went for 51 off his four overs against Kings XI Punjab in their first meeting this season
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106
The number of runs scored in the last 10 overs by Bangalore
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3
The number of half-centuries for Gibbs in the tournament, making him the batsman with most fifty-plus scores for Deccan

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The landmark came up with a single down the ground and there wasn't much fanfare. Virat Kohli took a cue and pulled six more, followed by a top edge that dropped safely between two clueless fielders, and deposited the last ball over the ropes. That last over summed up the course the two teams had run.

With Gilchrist struggling for timing, Gibbs took over the responsibility of scoring and did so in imitable fashion. He survived a shout against an Kumble topspinner when on 5 but didn't refrain from walking across his stumps, lapping and pulling the bowlers to distraction. Kallis hobbled off with a troublesome hamstring and Gibbs decided to take on Praveen Kumar. The first two balls were short-arm-flicked for sixes, the third was lapped for four, and Gilchrist put away a low full toss. Gibbs then dismissed van der Merwe for a couple of sixes upon introduction. Taking full toll of the half-volleys and stray balls that were on offer, Gibbs blasted 45 of the 68 runs added by the openers, lashing boundaries on both sides of the wicket.

He was dropped on 49 - soon after Gilchrist went for 15 - but didn't do much damage after Deccan went into the strategic break on a healthy 79 for 1. Symonds walked out in the 11th over after Kumble got Suman, and Rohit Sharma followed him in second ball of the 15th when Gibbs lost his grip and skied one to a tumbling Pandey in the deep. With 52 needed in five, Kumble called back van der Werwe and he bowled Symonds first ball. The pressure was on Rohit and Venugopal Rao but neither contributed; Rao was run out in the 18th over and in the next Rohit lofted Kumble to a very calm Kohli at long-on. The 26 needed off the final over was too much.

Bangalore showed an intensity that indicated how keen they were to erase the loss from the last time these two teams met. Pandey has said he would like to join the army, like his father, if he is unable to become a professional cricketer. If he can score hundreds like this going forward he won't need to reach for that application form.

Bangalore sneak home in thriller

Royal Bangalore Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings with two balls and two wickets to spare to keep alive their semi-final hopes in a match that swung - rather, careened - between the sides.

Needing 130 to win, after Chennai's lower-order capitulation following Matthew Hayden's 38-ball 60, it seemed Bangalore would sail through. But by the end of the Powerplays, struggling at 33 for 3, the semi-final looked a distant dream. Ross Taylor then played a mature innings, unlike his attacking one against Kolkata Knight Riders, taking on the anchor role while Virat Kohli hunted for boundaries. The match had swung in Bangalore's favour at the end of the 19th over, largely because of a six from Praveen Kumar that left them needing just five off the last.

Taylor nearly undid his efforts by stepping out and wildly swinging at a shorter delivery from Jacob Oram only to get the top edge, which was caught by Dhoni running back halfway to the boundary. Praveen was joined by Vinay Kumar at the crease, with the equation now a run-a-ball. Praveen took a single off his first ball; Vinay Kumar flicked the next to wide of midwicket and the batsmen scrambled two. There was more drama to follow as Vinay Kumar, using a runner, cut the next ball to backward point and L Balaji misfielded after diving at the boundary. Bangalore were unsure if they had got four and the batsmen, after taking a single, pushed off for one more, before a sheepish Balaji signalled a boundary and the end of the game.

Though the climax was thrilling, Bangalore will know they made a meal of the chase after their bowlers had bowled Chennai out for an under-par total. They started badly but should have never let it get to the final over.

Albie Morkel struck in the second ball of the innings, trapping Jacques Kallis leg before for a duck though replays suggested Kallis was hit just outside the off stump. Rahul Dravid looked in good nick, driving Morkel behind square for a four and then cutting Sudeep Tyagi to third-man boundary. But when he tried to repeat the shot in the next ball, he misjudged the bounce and popped a catch to S Badrinath to backward point. Tyagi's next over went for 11 runs but Morkel, who had conceded three runs in his second, struck in his third: Robin Uthappa was trapped by one that came in and hit him on middle and leg. Morkel, like Kallis, bowled his quota on the trot, finishing with 2 for 13. He varied his length and the new batsmen - Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor - cautious after the early collapse, chose not to take any risks.

Kohli and Taylor collected the runs through singles. Kohli did cut and sweep the spinners for fours but couldn't beat the fielders when driving down the ground. The two added ten more than MS Dhoni and Hayden had managed - 30 - between the Powerplay and the strategy break.

Kohli survived a chance in the 13th over, when he hit Murali for four over mid-on and just out of reach of Hayden, who had run in to take the catch. The over turned into a tug of war between bat and ball after that; Murali followed the four with three dot balls - two of which beat Kohli - after which Kohli charged down the track and hit a six over midwicket. Another big six off Jakati in the next over pushed their run-rate over six. But just as Bangalore looked to be steadying their innings, Chennai yanked the mat from under their feet with two wickets in the space of six balls. Kohli pulled a short ball from Balaji over midwicket and Oram ran in from the boundary to take a tumbling catch. Mark Boucher then missed the doosra by Murali and edged a catch to Hayden at slip. Murali gave away only two runs in that over which also featured an un-Twenty20 field for the final two balls: a slip, short leg and leg gully were in place for the new batsman Roelof van der Merwe.

Prime Numbers 2 The number of times a team has won a match with 2 balls remaining in the second innings 87 The percentage of runs scored by Virat Kohli on the leg side 262 Number of runs scored by Hayden in the Powerplays in 11 matches 3 Anil Kumble's economy rate in the match 8 The number of times a wicket has fallen of the first ball of the innings

With Taylor and van der Merwe at the crease Bangalore held the initiative. But that slipped from their grasp with an unnecessary move from van der Merwe: after Taylor pulled Balaji for a six over midwicket, the two batsmen took a single only to see an overthrow go past them. Van der Merwe was late on the second run would still have made the crease at a stretch. However, he ran in sluggishly, not grounding his bat and was run out.

Bangalore live to bat another day but they'll have to work on it in the meanwhile. As will Chennai, who just imploded towards the end of the innings. Chennai crossed 100 in the 13th over but managed only 28 more in the next seven.

However the collapse was triggered by some tight bowling by Bangalore in the middle overs. Kallis were chiefly responsible for staunching the run flow with Kallis taking a two wickets in consecutive overs, including a maiden one.

Hayden had power-hit Chennai to 52 in the Powerplay overs and then looked to consolidate the score with Dhoni. Vinay Kumar and Praveen went for 28 runs in their first two overs as Hayden messed up their lengths by stepping out and swatting them over the fielders for boundaries. The run-rate was over nine an over even after the loss of two wickets but things began to crumble with Dhoni's fall. Dhoni tried going for a big shot but van der Merwe pulled off a stunning catch off his own bowling by diving to his wrong side. The fall of wickets hadn't affected Hayden's batting - he launched van der Merwe for a six over his head one ball after Dhoni's wicket - but he fell in the next over by Kumble, when he mistimed a pull and was caught by at the boundary by Vinay Kumar. After that, the other bowlers joined in tightening that noose: van der Merwe conceded three in his final over, B Akhil two off his first, Vinay Kumar and Praveen picked up a wicket each, while Kumble ended S Badrinath's agonising nine-ball stay.

In the end a few more runs lower down the order could have meant Bangalore's exit from the tournament.