Champions League Twenty20: Five thrilling finishes

Jean-Paul Duminy(L)

2. RCB v/s Cape Cobras (Bangalore, October 8, 2009)

For sheer thrill and excitement, this game was a showpiece, and it got the inaugural season of the Champions League T20 off to a flyer. The crowd would have loved the Royal Challengers to end up on the winners’ podium, but the Cape Cobras remained calm as they pulled off a sensational win with just two deliveries to spare.

Hometown hero Robin Uthappa provided the early fireworks with a brutal innings at the top of the order, but it was Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor whose leg-side savagery took the IPL runners-up to the magic figure of 180. The right-hander was fed a diet of long hops and full tosses, all towards the leg stump, allowing him to get his right leg out of the way as he swiped ferociously at everything, finishing on a well-deserved unbeaten half-century.

After the Bangalore bowlers knocked over three quick wickets, the partisan crowd roared their delight, igniting hopes of a magnificent victory after a gala time in the IPL a few months before. But they had forgotten about the Cobras’ chief weapon: Jean-Paul Duminy.

The left-hander played deft strokes on both sides of the wicket as he treated rival skipper Anil Kumble with respect initially. He benefited from a dropped catch by Taylor early in his innings, and, once finding his range, went berserk. Kohli’s part-time medium pace was taken to the cleaners, and a wayward Vinay Kumar paid the price for bowling too full and wide.

Duminy broke the shackles after reaching his half-century, eventually finishing on 99 after Rory Kleinveldt hit the winning runs in the 20^th over, shocking the stadium into sepulchral silence. The Cobras had achieved a famous win, and it set the tone for the 2009 edition.