The Firsts of RCB - Royal Challengers Bangalore’s first IPL win
RCB vs MI, April 20 2008
RCB were thrashed in the first game of the tournament on the opening day of the brand-new IPL. Brendon McCullum had slain the RCB bowlers to all parts of the Chinnaswamy. RCB batting had failed miserably too, as the home team had suffered an embarrassing loss against KKR leaving the home fans disappointed. There were question marks raised over the team composition and how adept the squad was at playing T20 cricket.
Royal Challengers were up against Mumbai Indians in the second game, playing at the Wankhede. RCB needed to set the tone early in the game or else the team morale could go easily go downhill. Zaheer Khan got the early wicket of Luke Ronchi, thanks to a superb diving catch by Virat Kohli. The aggression was on full display, as a Zaheer Khan bouncer took out Dominic Thornley who had to retire hurt. However, Sanath Jayasuriya and Robin Uthappa took control and threatened to take the game away with some brisk scoring. A direct hit from Zaheer Khan caught the mercurial Sri Lankan short of his crease, and the Mumbai Indians were reeling.
Mumbai Indians though fought back. Riding on the back of Bangalore boy Robin Uthappa’s brisk 48 off 38, with some contributions from the middle order, Mumbai rebuilt their innings. But, a fine piece of glovework from the veteran South African keeper Mark Boucher caught Uthappa short of his crease and the Mumbai were far from reaching a competitive score at 125/4 with only 3 overs to go. The Protean all-rounder Shaun Pollock took charge and his lusty hitting gave Mumbai a good score of 165 to defend.
Mark Boucher was awarded the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 39 off 19
With 166 needed to win, the RCB opening duo of Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Rahul Dravid, started at a fairly decent pace, but could not accelerate thanks to some fine tight bowling by Shaun Pollock. Rahul Dravid held the innings together with his knock of 32, while Ross Taylor looked to provide the innings some pace. But the quick fall of both Dravid and Taylor within a span of 8 runs and 7 balls could have derailed the innings. But, the experienced head of South African Jacques Kallis did not allow that to happen.
Kallis dropped anchor, and let Virat Kohli play his game. Virat’s knock of 23 off 14 meant RCB kept up with the required rate. RCB were well on the way. With 60 required off 39, Mark Boucher came in to bat upon the dismissal of Virat Kohli. The game could’ve still swung either way. Boucher’s hitting complimented Kallis’ patience perfectly as the invaluable partnership of 55 runs from 31 balls took RCB within touching distance. Boucher and Kallis were especially cruel on Ashish Nehra, as they took 19 runs off the 18th over of the innings, which reduced the run rate required from 10 an over to less than a run-a-ball.
RCB won the game with 2 balls to spare and had put the opening night demons to rest. The so-called “Test team” had chased down 166 runs at the Wankhede. Mark Boucher was declared the Man of the match for his decisive knock of 39 runs off 19 balls and a smart stumping to get rid of the dangerous-looking Robin Uthappa. The game will go down in history for being the first-ever win in RCB’s history.
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