Bangalore to keep Chennai super kings

Parthiv Patel stunned Royal Challengers Bangalore at the top, but smart bowling changes and smart bowling thereafter kept pulling Chennai Super Kings back whenever they threatened to move too far out of reach. The result? A late assault never came, and Bangalore were left to chase a below-par total on a flat Wanderers track.

It started a bit differently, though, for Bangalore. The whole talk before the semi-final centered around the orange cap holder Mathew Hayden and whether he would be back for the big match. But Bangalore were hit from an unexpected quarter. It's not often you go outscoring Hayden in good form, and if you do you better be playing exceptionally. That's precisely what Parthiv did today.

After playing out one quiet over, Parthiv targeted Jaques Kallis, who tried attacking Parthiv with the short delivery but was in turn taken for three boundaries, all off short bowling - a pull, a rapacious cut and one subtle upper-cut.

In the next over Parthiv attacked Praveen Kumar too, pulling and then square-driving him. Two overs and two more boundaries off R Vinay Kumar later Parthiv had reached 32 off 20 deliveries, while Hayden was still 13. What odds would punters get for that?

In the next over, though, Anil Kumble brought back some control, and in Vinay's next Hayden went for one six too many and mis-hit to long-on. Chennai had reached 61 in seven overs. Kumble saw the opportunity and brought back Kallis, whose first two overs had cost 21. With his fourth delivery Kallis removed Parthiv and Bangalore could try and force restrain upon two new batsmen.

The two new batsmen were MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina, in that order. There was a period of quiet around the time-out, and Kallis went for five in his next two overs. Just when Raina looked like opening up, with a four and a six off Vinay, Kumble brought back Praveen in the 15th over. With the first ball, Praveen got Raina to sky a slower ball, and Bangalore had once again prevented Chennai from getting away.