Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers - Match Review

THIS is what the IPL is all about ! THIS is the essence of the concept of the IPL in its full glory. A low-scoring match going all the way down to the wire with the final act played out in front of a titanic, raucous crowd and the protagonist playing the final act is the local boy, well man in this case.

The IPL has been a great confluence of cricketing cultures and all teams and fans have welcomed their foreign stars with open arms and hospitality but to see Anil Kumble come on to bowl the crucial last over with the Chinnaswamy behind him ? That is something special. To see Rahul Dravid's range of emotions from worry to ecstasy to confusion and then coming down to pat Kumble on the back and for Kumble to do the job again ? To see the crowd celebrate and cry with its own local heroes to come up with a happy ending ? This is true Bollywood stuff.

This has been the best match of the tournament for me, not the least because of the emotional reasons mentioned above but because it was a match dominated by VERY GOOD BOWLING. Any cricketing contest is great when the bowlers have a say. The way Steyn and Zaheer and Praveen Kumar the man of the match responded to the pressure was just awesome !

This is not to belittle the efforts of Rohit Sharma and VVS Laxman who produced the most classy partnership of the series. Laxman gifted T20 an entirely new concept of "elegant slogging" and Rohit, well, he seems to be the next big thing in Indian batting. I see shades of Laxman as well as Tendulkar in the youngster and that should say it all. I'm interested in knowing what Vijay Mallya said to him at the prize distribution - I bet it was something like "We'll be on the lookout for you next season."

Bangalore, as Dravid said "got out of jail with this one" but there is lot of work to be done. I still fail to see how Dravid can't see the need of a major player in the top 3. Jaffer cannot be your main top-order batsman in this format. Kohli is not yet mature enough to be the No. 3. There has got to be some way to get in Chanderpaul - maybe at the expense of Kallis or even Boucher for that matter. But the bowling looks awesome now that liabilities like Akhil and Joshi have been kicked out.

Bangalore got the luck they needed with the wickets of Laxman and Styris.

But the abiding memories of the day were Rahul Dravid getting all pumped up after Afridi's wicket. The way he has managed to motivate himself for this event (keep aside the results) is great news for Indian cricket - clearly the man believes he has a lot more cricket left in him. Then of course Anil Kumble pulling out the Jonty Rhodes drive, Caterina Kaif dancing when she thought Kohli hit a six only to look emabarassed when he was caught on the boundary, and finally that dramatic climax in the last over.

Bravo Bangalore ! Great match ! Pity it had to result in another defeat for VVS though.