All-round Bangalore crush Kolkata

Royal Challengers Bangalore 162 for 3 (Dravid 52, Uthappa 50*) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 160 for 9 (McCullum 45, Gayle 34, Vinay 3-23, Kallis 2-31) by seven wickets

Royal Challengers Bangalore were inspired by their bowlers and a delightful half-century from Rahul Dravid in a seven-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders that propelled them to second place in the points table. In front of a boisterous crowd at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, the teams served up an exciting encounter that, for much of its duration, retained the frenetic flow that Twenty20 was meant to provide. Kolkata's big names blazed with the bat but their performance was undermined by some crafty bowling in the middle overs. Bangalore's successful chase combined Dravid's conventional touch with Robin Uthappa's ruthless flourish to seal a morale-boosting victory and leave Kolkata struggling in the bottom three.

Anil Kumble's decision to field had been prompted by Bangalore's good track record while chasing at the Chinnaswamy and his batsmen didn't let him down. But the victory had been set up by a combined effort with the ball which redressed the damage caused by poor spells at the start of Kolkata's innings.

In conditions favouring swing and movement, Praveen Kumar and Dale Steyn had dragged the ball too short and provided much width that Sourav Ganguly and Chris Gayle dealt with harshly. Sixty-one runs came in the Powerplay, the highest for Kolkata this IPL, and they had got there through a series of cuts, pulls and drives that their opening pair used with relentless regularity. Jacques Kallis, too, bowled short and was slashed by Ganguly over third man and Kumble, expensive in his first over, was late-cut for four.