Manish Pandey hit 48 and Rahul Dravid added 44 Saturday to steer the Bangalore Royal Challengers into the final of the Indian Premier League with a six-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings. The 19-year-old Pandey, whose century against Deccan Chargers on Thursday helped put Bangalore in the semis, struck seven boundaries in 35 balls in another fluent innings at Wanderers while Dravid faced 39 balls and cracked six boundaries as Bangalore reached 149-4 to overhaul Chennai's total of 146-5 with seven balls to spare and set a date with Deccan in Sunday's final. “He is starting to see what I'm looking for ... the toughness on the field and off it,” Bangalore coach Ray Jennings said about Pandey. Pandey and Dravid shared a 72-run third wicket stand after Bangalore had a shaky start in their chase. Opener Jacques Kallis went in the second over for nine after nicking a Manpreet Gony ball to be snapped by Parthiv Patel in the slips. Bangalore went two wickets down for 22 runs when Roloef van der Merwe on two exposed his stumps to be bowled for by seam bowler Albie Morkel. Pandey was dismissed in the 13th over, being bowled by left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati's fuller, spinning ball. “I just got the gaps,” Pandey said. “That is what we discussed in the team meeting. ... Just find the gaps.” Dravid then failed to connect his attempted sweep off Muttiah Muralitharan on the first ball of the 16th over to be trapped lbw. Muralitharan was impressive in his four overs, taking 1-15. After Dravid's downfall, Virat Kohli (24) and Ross Taylor (17) were composed enough to take Bangalore home in an unbeaten stand. “Overall we are disappointed not to be in the final, but we got beaten by a side that played better cricket on the particular day,” said Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “It's important not to lose wickets at regular intervals when you want to accelerate, especially on wickets that are on the slow side. I thought we were 15 runs short, it could have been a different game.” Chennai made a good start after being sent in, with Matthew Hayden, the tournament's leading scorer, and Parthiv Patel putting on 61 for the first wicket. But the innings lost momentum when Hayden lofted Vinay Kumar to deep mid-wicket off the last ball of the seventh over after making 26. Patel followed two overs later when he was leg before to Jacques Kallis for 36. Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the left-handed Suresh Raina added 35 for the third wicket. Raina hit a four and six off successive balls against Vinay Kumar but the threatened acceleration was cut short in the next over when he top- edged a pull against Praveen Kumar and was caught by wicketkeeper Mark Boucher for 20. Dhoni reached 28 without hitting a boundary before he hit Roelof van der Merwe high to long-on and fell to a well-judged catch by Vinay Kumar who managed to maintain his balance just inside the rope. With the pitch playing slower as the innings progressed even the normally free-scoring Albie Morkel could only manage an unbeaten 20 off 17 balls. Brief scores: Chennai 146-5 (P.Patel 36, MS Dhoni 28, M.Hayden 26, S.Raina 20, A.Morkel 20 not out; V.Kumar 2-38). Bangalore 149-4 in 18.5 overs (M.Pandey 48, R.Dravid 44, V.Kohli 24 not out, R.Taylor 17 not out). – APIPL final today 1730 Bangalore Royal Challengers vs. Deccan Chargers __
