Five-star Tait cannot stop RCB

Royal Challengers Bangalore snatched victory off the final delivery against the South Australia Redbacks in Bangalore on Wednesday, winning by two wickets to progress to the semifinals of the CLT20.

Full Scoring

In a rollercoaster match, Tillakaratne Dilshan and Chris Gayle gave the hosts the best possible start, adding 65 runs off the first 6.1overs before Gayle fell to Daniel Christian, but the steepler caused Redbacks captain Michael Klinger and Tom Cooper to collide even though Klinger held on to the catch.

Klinger had to leave the field with an injured leg after the incident and Callum Ferguson took over the captaincy.

Dilshan continued the chase with Virat Kohli, the pair pummeling the Redbacks' attack to all corners of the park for a 100-run partnership within nine overs before Kohli became Shaun Tait's first victim, falling for 70.

Kohli faced 36 balls and hit four boundaries and six maximums.

Dilshan continued on the quest, but the wickets kept tumbling around him as Shaun Tait found his radar, and dismissed Saurabh Tiwary, followed by the in-form Dilshan (74) with 15 runs still needed off 11 balls.

Tait was not finished, and he also got rid of Daniel Vettori and Raju Bhatkal in the 19th over to finish with 5/32 and give the South Australian team hope to still salvage a victory.

However, Sreenath Aravind made up for his woeful bowling by scooping a four over the wicketkeeper and running a bye. Arun Karthik then hit the winning six off the final ball to send the Redbacks crashing out of the competition.

Earlier, Daniel Harris blazed the second century of this year's Champions League T20 to lift the Redbacks to 214 for two after opting to bat first.

Harris and Ferguson demolished the Bangalore attack, posting 114 runs for the second wicket in just over 12 overs, but Ferguson fell to the slower one when he had 70, which took him just 43 deliveries.

Harris finished unbeaten on 108, having hit 17 boundaries and two sixes off 61 balls, and he was especially severe on Aravind who conceded 69 runs off his four overs.

Teams:

South Australia Redbacks: M Klinger (capt), DJ Harris, TLW Cooper, CJ Ferguson, CJ Borgas, DT Christian, TP Ludeman (wk), AW O'Brien, NM Lyon, KW Richardson, SW Tait

Comments