Manish Pandey will not need a visiting card in a hurry. So what if he is only 19 years old? So what if he did not get to play too many games for India when it won the World Cup for Youth (under-19) last year? On Thursday, he became the first Indian to score a century in the history of the DLF Indian Premier League and set up a 12-run victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore over Deccan Chargers in the race for the third spot in the league table.
Turning out in only his third game for Royal Challengers Bangalore and entrusted with the task of opening the innings along with Jacques Kallis, Pandey set the SuperSport Park alive in making an unbeaten 114 off just 73 balls (10 fours, four sixes). Glowing with confidence after he was dropped when on 2, Pandey caned the Deccan Chargers attack.
His assault on Tirumalasetty Suman in th 11th over was decisive. He struck him for two sixes as he picked up 18 runs in the over. And his attack against Purple Cap holder RP Singh was spectacular in its fearlessness and breathtaking in its execution. He scored 20 runs off nine balls that he faced from RP Singh.
Roelef van der Merwe, Rahul Dravid, Ross Taylor and Virat Kolhi were privileged spectators from across the pitch as Pandey - who idolises Matthew Hayden's strokeplay - dominated their partnerships. Kohli joined the party by helping Pandey take 22 runs off RP Singh’s final over and rubbing it in for the bowler who had dropped the teenager in the third over of the day.
That final over helped Royal Challengers make a powerful finish and make a daunting total of 170 for three. It was always going to be tough for Deccan Chargers to chase that down, even if Herschelle Gibbs batted like a man in a hurry, blazing away at the start. But with no other batsman complementing his knock of 60, Deccan Chargers were only playing catch up.
Andrew Symonds's dismissal, bowled by a van der Merwe armer for 18 and Rohit Sharma's fall to a catch in the deep off Kumble meant that Deccan Chargers had to settle to be second best on Thursday night, take the fourth place ahead of Kings XI Punjab with a better net run rate and get ready to take on the favourites Delhi Daredevils in the first semifinal here on Friday.
Royal Challengers Bangalore, who took the third place after another win in a high-pressure game, will have a day’s rest before locking horns with last year’s finalist Chennai Super Kings in Johannesburg on Saturday. One young man answering to the name of Manish Pandey ensured that with an amazing knock.
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