Bangalore back on track

Ross Taylor smashed an unbeaten half-century as Royal Challengers Bangalore kept themselves in contention for an Indian Premier League semi-final spot with a six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders.

Taylor’s 81 off 33 deliveries overshadowed an unbeaten 84 off 64 from Brendon McCullum, which had helped the Knight Riders reach 173 for four after being asked to take first strike.

David Hussey chipped in with a knock of 43 (27 deliveries) and put on 70 runs for the third wicket with McCullum, but Taylor stole the show.

The Royal Challengers began their chase confidently with openers Jacques Kallis (32) and Jesse Ryder (22) putting on 58 for the opening wicket in fairly good time.

Murali Karthik halted the scoring with a tidy spell and a brace of wickets.

The left-arm spinner first sent back Kallis, although the wicket came more through a brilliant catch from McCullum at short cover.

Brendon McCullum finally hit form with an unbeaten knock of 84, but it proved to be in vain as Kolkata slid to another defeat

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Robin Uthappa was his second victim - caught in the deep - and when Ryder fell to Ajit Agarkar shortly after, the Royal Challengers’ line-up was in danger of unravelling.

But Taylor went on the attack immediately, clubbing Karthik for consecutive sixes in the bowler’s final over and hitting Angelo Mathews for successive boundaries in the next over.

Taylor dragged the Royal Challengers back on course with a 48-run stand for the third wicket with Rahul Dravid and continued to hit boundaries at will after Dravid’s fall in the 16th over.

The Royal Challengers needed 94 from the last eight overs but Taylor reduced the gap to 55 from the last five and 21 from the last two overs, and eventually to five from the last over.

He then brought up victory with a six, as the Royal Challengers reached their target with four deliveries to spare, and with Mark Boucher not out on 13.

The Knight Riders had begun in poor fashion and struggled when they lost Sourav Ganguly in the third over and Arindam Ghosh shortly after.

However, McCullum, who had opened with Ganguly, hit form with the bat and powered the Knight Riders to their highest total of the season.

Hussey provided the early acceleration with a knock of 43 off only 27 deliveries, although the Western Australia batsman was a touch fortunate early in his innings.

He nicked a delivery from Kallis while on five but the ball fell just short of wicketkeeper Boucher.

Hussey responded by clubbing a six and a four off the next two deliveries and thereafter continued to bat with fluency.

The partnership was broken when Balachandra Akhil ended Hussey’s innings by knocking out middle stump as the batsman attempted a heave.

McCullum then took charge, clubbing Akhil for consecutive sixes to bring up his maiden half-century this season and then clobbered Vinay Kumar for three consecutive boundaries in the penultimate over as runs came in a flood.

The Royal Challengers leaked 71 runs in their last five overs, Wriddhiman Saha capping the Knight Riders’ fine show with the bat by hammering a six off the last delivery of the innings.