Bangalore i May 3::Hyderabad needed 20 runs to win off the last over with Sanjay Bangar and Arjun Yadav at the crease, not easy considering it was the usually thrifty Anil Kumble bowling.

But in T20 cricket, anything’s possible, and when Bangar hit two sixes in a row, the equation had become a gettable six off two balls. Kumble managed to hold his nerve though, as the Royal Challengers won by three runs after Hyderabad’s chase fell apart in the last three overs. The visitors seemed on course to overhaul Bangalore’s 156 — they needed 29 runs off 18 deliveries with seven wickets still in hand.

Laxman was batting on a composed 51 and Shahid Afridi had just joined him in the middle. A flurry of wickets — three in the next seven deliveries, including two dodgy leg-before decisions — changed the course of the match.

On a day when the ball dominated at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, Dale Steyn gave away just 20 runs in his four overs, as did Zaheer Khan, who also picked up a couple of wickets. Praveen Kumar played key-wrecker in Hyderabad’s chase, finishing with 3-23.

Tough going

Earlier, even Bangalore struggled to get any momentum, thanks in most part to RP Singh. The left-armer had earned the reputation of a specialist in the format after the T20 World Cup, fetching big bucks ($875,000) in the IPL, but a lot of people had started questioning his price tag after he picked up just five wickets in as many matches. But today, though he was expensive, his three wickets helped restrict the Challengers. After conceding two consecutive boundaries in his first over, he got Bharat Chipli. He returned in the 14th over to get rid of Virat Kohli, and then dismissed Mark Boucher in the penultimate over.

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