Royal rout for low-volt Otago

Bengaluru

Oct. 12: Royal Challengers Bangalore team owner Vijay Mallya jumped out of his seat and pumped his fist in the air as Brendon McCullum slowly trudged off the pitch. McCullum brings bad memories to the RCB team, having taken a pounding from the Kiwi opener in the 2008 IPL opener when he smashed an unbeaten 158.
However, history wasn’t to be repeated in the Champions League T20 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday as RCB skittled out Otago Volts for 108 in 17.5 overs and the danger-man McCullum managed just 5. The 80-run victory took RCB to the next round of the tournament from Group C, along with South African side Cape Cobras.
It was a must-win tie for RCB and the least they wanted was McCullum to fire on all cylinders, even though Otago Volts were chasing a daunting 189 for victory and a place in the next round of the inaugural event.
However, Jacques Kallis, who had earlier made an unbeaten 73 (59b, 4x4, 2x6), was RCB’s man as he got rid of McCullum, caught by skipper Anil Kumble at long-on. Two more wickets were to follow for Kallis as he capped a perfect day, finishing with an impressive 3/18 in four overs
The rest of the bowlers followed suit as none of the Otago batsmen gave a semblance of scare to RCB.
Earlier, Robin Uthappa 42 (31b, 5x4, 2x6) and Kallis entertained the near capacity RCB flag-waving crowd, with some good power hitting. Local boy Uthappa was off the blocks quickly, with a punch over the covers off Neil Wagner and followed it up with a huge one over long-on off Dimitri Mascarenhas. On the other hand, Kallis struggled with his timing but with Uthappa in good nick, the run-rate just soared.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 188/2 in (Jacques Kallis 73, Robin Uthappa 42) bt Otago Volts 108 (Jacques Kallis 3/18, Anil Kumble 2/20).