Cricket portal

 

Three days after his unbeaten knock of 135, the highest score-ever in CLT20 history, that catapulted the Blues into the semis, David Warner cracked another blazing century to take his team to a mammoth 203 for two in 20 overs. After New South Wales had lost Shane Watson (3) early, Warner and Daniel Smith put on a 146-run stand in 14.3 overs to take NSW past the 150-run mark in 16.2 overs.

 

Daniel Vettori surprised the Blues by opting to open the bowling attack with part time off-spinner Tillakarante Dilshan. Not only did Dilshan get Watson, but finished with the most economical figures in the game with 4-0-10-1. However, the other RCB bowlers proved to be expensive as Warner tore into them enroute to his 68-ball 123. Sreenath Aravind was ineffective for the second game in a row with Warner hitting the left-arm pacer for 23 runs in the last over of the innings.

 

RCB started the run chase with a bit of a stutter as Dilshan (4) was caught by Moises Henriques off Pat Cummins at mid-off with the score at 21 in 2.5 overs. After that, Gayle and Kohli to put on a 141-run stand that took the game away from NSW. Gayle was at his destructive best as he smashed 92 runs off just 41 deliveries as RCB reached 150 in 12.5 overs.

 

NSW also had a bit of misfortune when Pat Cummins dropped Virat Kohli at the sweeper cover boundary when he was on 44. At that point, RCB were still 80 runs away from the victory mark. That lapse proved costly, as after Gayle (92) fell to Cummins, it was Kohli who saw RCB through with an unbeaten 84. Cummins struck thrice in the space of four deliveries to leave RCB wobbling at 172 for four but Kohli’s composure ensured that RCB reached the target. Mohammed Kaif hit the winning runs by smashing two consecutive fours off Steven Smith in the 19th over as they won by 6 wickets with nine deliveries to spare.

 

RCB will meet the winner of the semi-final between Mumbai Indians and Somerset in the Nokia CLT20 2011 final on Sunday in Chennai.

 

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 204/4 in 18.3 overs (Chris Gayle 92, Virat Kohli 84 n.o., Pat Cummins 4/45) beat New South Wales Blues 203/2 in 20 overs (David Warner 123 n.o., Daniel Smith 62, Tillakaratne Dilshan 1/10) by six wickets

 

Man-of-the-match: Virat Kohli for his match-winning innings of 84 n.o. from just 49 balls (10x4, 3x6)