Bangalore beats Gujarat by 4 wickets to make IPL final

BANGALORE - AB de Villiers played a brilliant knock to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore into the Indian Premier League final with a four-wicket win over Gujarat Lions here Tuesday. Chasing 159, Bangalore looked down and out at 29 for five before de Villiers smashed 79 off 47 balls to script a sensational fightback and take the team home with 8 balls to spare. The efforts of Dhawal Kulkarani and Dwayne Smith went in vain. With the spectacular win, Bangalore is in its third IPL final and only a step away from its maiden title. Gujarat will have another chance to make the summit clash in the Qualifier 2 in Delhi Friday. Bangalore was expected to overcome the target with minimum fuss but tricky batting conditions at the Chinnaswamy made the job tougher for it. Virat Kohli suffered a rare failure when he dragged a wide one from Kulkarni on to his stumps. Chris Gayle was also dismissed by Kulkarni as he attempted a whack over midwicket to see his stumps rattled. Lokesh Rahul was then caught at first slip on the following ball and Kulkarni was on a hat trick. Kulkarni ended up with a career best figures of 4-14. Soon after, Bangalore had lost half its side when de Villiers brought his team back into the game and involved Iqbal Abdulla (33 not out) in a unbeaten 91-run stand for the seventh wicket. Earlier, Smith hammered 73 off 41 balls to help Gujarat recover from a disastrous start and post a competitive total. Smith hammered six sixes in his whirlwind knock and shared an 85-run stand with Dinesh Karthik (26) after Gujarat lost its top three batsmen for nine runs. Watson was the stand out bowler for the host, ending with four wickets for 29 runs in his four overs. Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 159 for 6 (de Villiers 79*, Abdulla 33*; Kulkarni 4-14, Jadeja 2-21) beat Gujarat Lions 158 (Smith 73; Watson 4-29, Abdulla 2-38) by four wickets.