RCB crush Chennai by 36 runs; on top of IPL

Bangalore wrapped-up a solid 36-run win over Chennai, placing them on top of the IPL points tally.

Zeecric Bureau

Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore wrapped-up a comprehensive 36-run win over Chennai Super Kings, placing them on top of the IPL points tally. Mathew Hayden and George Bailey lost out to superior display of cricketing prowess by the home team, losing out just when the required run-rate climbed up steeply. It was the build-up to a good strategy - the first over started the festivities as Praveen Kumar had churned amazing swing to braw first blood with the wicket of Parthiv Patel in the first over of the run-chase. Bangalore managed a solid 171/5 against Chennai Super Kings, largely owing to the pyrotechnics of the batsmen towards the death. The last two overs amassed 41 runs for Bangalore, a feat that changed the equations to quite an extent. Robin Uthappa (66 runs off 37 deliveries), slammed his third IPL fifty after being dropped on 5 and 25 runs respectively, only to turn the tables for his team in the penultimate over, decimating Lakshmipathy Balaji for 24 runs.Chennai had done a fantastic job of putting brakes on the Bangalore juggernaut in the initial phases, taking wickets at regular intervals. As the scoreboard went past 100 for the latter, they had lost four top order batsmen. Muralidaran was his usual economical self, containing the opposition and providing great support to the other bowlers. Balaji did what no other bowler could do so far in the third season of the Indian Premier League - he dismissed the so-far-unbeatable Jacques Kallis to leave Bangalore Royal Challengers a warrior short in their match against the Chennai Super Kings. A smart delivery by Balaji bowled out Kallis for 19 in the fifth over itself, thus leaving Bangalore at 28/1. Scorecard: CSK Vs RCB»Team: Chennai: Suresh Raina, Matthew Hayden, Parthiv Patel, S Badrinath, Murali Vijay, George Bailey, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Lakhsmipathy Balaji, Muttiah Muralidaran, Sudeep Tyagi. Bangalore: Anil Kumble, Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa, Virat Kohli, Eoin Morgan, Rahul Dravid, Mark Boucher, Praveen Kumar, R vinaykumar, Dale Steyn.