Boucher steers Royal challengers to a superb win …

After being thrashed in their opening match, the Bangalore Royal Challengers came back strongly in the fifth match of the inaugural IPL tournament by beating the Mumbai Indians by five wickets at the Wankhede stadium here.

Chasing 165, Bangalore won with just two balls to spare in a thrilling encounter. And the hero for the visitors was Mark Boucher who remained unbeaten on 39 with four boundaries and two sixes to his name.

Even after a steady start, the Bangalore team it seemed was always facing an uphill task, remaining below the required run-rate through most of their run chase. But the equation changed completely with Jacques Kallis and Boucher suddenly launching a brilliant counter-attack at the death.

Challengers Chase !!

After Boucher hit Harbhajan Singh for a much-needed six, the visitors needed 30 off three overs. Ashish Nehra bowling the 18th over was hit by two sixes and one four in the over, giving away 19 runs.

With only 11 needed off two overs, Mumbai for the first time were facing the heat and even though they managed to get rid off Kallis for 25, Bangalore managed to reach home in the last over.

Earlier, Rahul Dravid after battling hard in the initial part of his innings took his team off to a steady beginning, hitting a 33 ball 32. Shivnarine Chanderpaul (16), Ross Taylor (23) and Virat Kohli (23) also chipped in with handy contributions.

In the Mumbai innings, a steady 48 by Robin Uthappa and Shaun Pollock’s blazing 12-ball 28 took the Mumbai Indians to 165-6.

After stand-in skipper Harbhajan chose to bat, Sanath Jayasuriya got the Mumbai Indians off to a flier clobbering five four and one six in his 16-ball 29. But Zaheer Khan, who was the best bowler in view, threw the wickets down at the non-striker’s end to send back the Sri Lankan southpaw.

Uthappa and Pinal Shah then put up a steady 51-run stand to build the innings. After slamming five fours and one six, Uthappa fell in the 17th over in an attempt to accelerate the scoring.

But it was Pollock who provided the much-needed impetus. The all-rounder hit two towering sixes along with three boundaries to motor the scoring rate, which looked a bit static at one stage.

Mumbai: Sanath Jayasuriya, Luke Ronchi (wk), Robin Uthappa, Dominic Thornley, Abhishek Nayar, Pinal Shah, Shaun Pollock, Harbhajan Singh (capt), Dhawal Kulkarni, Musavir Khote, Ashish Nehra.

Bangalore: Rahul Dravid, B Akhil, Jacques Kallis, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Virat Kohli, Ross Taylor, Mark Boucher (wk), Praveen Kumar, Sunil Joshi, Zaheer Khan, R Vinay Kumar.