Kolkata, Bangalore stay in race

Kolkata Knight Riders were firmly on course of a top-four finish in the Indian Premier League when they pulled off a 7-wicket win against hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajib Gandhi International Stadium yesterday.
Chasing a competitive Hyderabad total of 142-8, Kolkata were in need of ten runs in the final over which Ryan ten Doeschete clobbered in style, hitting the second ball for a six over extra-cover and then smashing the fourth ball past the bowler for four.
The victory improved Kolkata's tally to 12 points, two adrift of third placed Rajasthan Royals, with three games still to be played before the four-team playoffs.
Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan took two important wickets for Kolkata but it was paceman Umesh Yavad, who grabbed the player-of-the-match award for claiming three wickets for 24 runs in his four overs.
Earlier,  Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made a stunning late flourish after initial struggle with AB de Villiers playing a cameo of 14-ball 28 to pull off a five-wicket victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in a thrilling IPL match in Ranchi .
Chasing 139 for a win, Bangalore found the going tough with the Chennai slow bowlers seemingly tying them into knots in the first half of their innings before exploding towards the end to overhaul the target with one ball to spare in a low-scoring match that went down the wire.
Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni used his four slow bowlers - R Ashwin (2/16), Suresh Raina (0/20), Ravindra Jadeja (0/31) and Samuel Badree (0/15) — for long spells and, as they were getting the turn on JSCA International Stadium,Bangalore struggled to reach 45 for one at the halfway mark.
Opener Chris Gayle, who top-scored for Bangalore with an uncharacteristic 50-ball 46, played and missed several times but to his credit he stayed at the crease. Bangalore, however, had wickets in their hands so that they can go all out in the last five overs.
With Sunday's win, Bangalore jumped to fifth place with 10 points from 11 matches.

SCORES IN BRIEF
CHENNAI: 138-4 in 20 overs (Raina 62 not out, D Hussey 25; Aaron 2-29).
BANGALORE: 142-5 in 19.5 overs (Gayle 46, Kohli 27, De Villiers 28; Ashwin 2-16, D Hussey 2-38).
Result: Bangalore won by 5 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: AB de Villiers.
HYDERABAD: 142-8 in 20 overs (Warner 32, Irfan 23 not out, Ojha 22; Umesh 3-26, Shakib 2-22)
KOLKATA: 146-3 in 19.4 overs (Uthappa 40, Yusuf 39 not out, Ten Doeschate 25 not out)
Result: Kolkata won by 7 wickets.
Player-of-the-match: Umesh Yadav