Johannesburg, May 24 (Inditop) Bangalore Royal Challengers’ skipper Anil Kumble was not willing to celebrate after the team’s six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings at the New Wanderers here Saturday propelled it into Sunday’s final of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Former India captain Kumble, who took over the reins from an unimpressive Kevin Pietersen midway through the league, said the party will start with one more win – the final, that is.
“One more win will be nice,” said Kumble after Saturday’s second semi-final that set up Challengers’ date with Deccan Chargers in the final.
Kumble lauded both his batsmen and bowlers for the confidence boosting win over last year’s runners-up Super Kings.
The bowlers restricted Super Kings to 146 for five in 20 overs and then 19-year-old Man of the Match Manish Pandey (48) and the veteran Rahul Dravid (44) played some solid knocks as Royal Challengers achieved the target with seven balls to spare.
“Their score was not even a par score. Our batsmen backed themselves to clear the boundary. I thought Praveen and Vinay bowled very well at the end,” Kumble said.
Pandey thanked Kumble for allowing him to go after Super Kings bowling.
“Today, I got the license from Anil bhai to hit. I didn’t want to get out to Murali and wanted to give Rahul the strike,” he said.
Super Kings’ skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni felt his team was 15 runs short of a winning total.
“The wicket was a bit slow but they (Royal Challengers) played better cricket. We were looking for a 160 score but we lost wickets at the wrong time. They outplayed us. Our bowling was a bit fragile, but we could have made it tougher for them,” he said.
rounak