Kholi,White take Bangalore to Semis

Finally, Virat Kohli's second blitzkrieg in a row, supported by Cameron White, helped Bangalore end up on the winning side and prevent absolute dominance of the South African teams, as they edged out the Highveld Lions by 6 wickets on Tuesday to book a place in the semifinals.

Replacing injured Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey gave Rahul Dravid solid company as Bangalore set off chasing 160 methodically, but a rush of blood from Dravid (33) saw his off-stump dislodged to give Lions their first breakthrough.

Manish Pandey's 44 runs justified his inclusion in place of injured Jacques Kallis but he couldn't convert it into a half century after being splendidly caught at long-off in quest of quick runs. Though two wickets down, Bangalore still had things under control.

However, Ross Taylor's walk back to the pavilion, soon after Pandey's wicket, made things tense for Bangalore and brought the match in balance with required run-rate climbing to nine runs per over.

But Kohli was in no mood for a close finish like the one against Mumbai Indians where he couldn't take his team home despite a cameo. But in that endeavor, he ran Robin Uthappa out.

That, however, made Kohli's effort even more determined in support of Cameron White who seemed to discover some of his lost big-hitting touch.

The duo wasted no time once the win was 25 runs far and spanked those in style to book a place in semis, a first for an IPL team in the Champions League.

Earlier, some lusty blows by Frylinck in the last over took Lions to a competitive target of 159 in 20 overs. Alviro Peterson top scored with 45 while Vinay picked up 2 wickets for 23 runs for Bangalore.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Lions openers got off to a confident start before Jonathan Vandiar (11 off 11) nicked the ball down the keeper's throat on the bowling of Vinay Kumar.

Richard Cameron followed Vandiar soon back to pavilion as he was out on the very next ball without troubling the scorers.

Captain Alviro Petersen and middle order batsman Vaughn van Jaarsveld's then played some superb shots all around the park in their partnership of 54 off just 26 balls before Vaughn was run out following a mix-up with skipper.

Alviro Petersen (45 off 29) led from the front scoring at a staggering pace but his counterpart Anil Kumble got the better of him just when Bangalore needed, raising hopes of restricting Lions under 170.

Neil McKenzie then brought his experience into play with a 39 run innings but even that could not take Lions to score of around 175 that they would have hoped to get after electing to bat first.

Steyn and du Preez bowled right at the batsmen's toes to stop them from playing the big shots in the death overs that helped in restricting Lions to just 159/6.

Anil Kumble: We knew that all we needed was one big over, what Virat could not achieve against Mumbai, he did it today. Vinay started off well with the ball, Virat and myself bowled some good middle overs and Steyn bowled well at the death. Very happy that we made it to the semi finals, it is one step away now. It will be nice to meet any team in the semis but it will be nice to meet Chennai there.

Alviro Petersen: Our success must not be measured by where we ended up in the tournament but one should look at the obstacles we overcame. We knew if we can pull the run rate back a bit we were in there. We never gave up and I am proud of my boys. We love this tournament, this is a stepping stone for further things to happen to us.

Virat Kohli: Really happy to be there, nice to get a win. I was really disappointed the other day not being able to take my team to victory. But, it was not the same today. I was sure that we would get one big over, I was waiting for it and we got it in the 17th over. Robin is a good friend, it was my mistake that resulted in him getting run-out. He is a good friend and he will understand.

Virat Kohli is the Man of the Match for his match winning knock of 49 runs off just 29 balls.

Glory today for Bangalore as they became the first IPL team to reach the semi-finals of the CLT20 courtesy this six wicket victory over the Lions. After Dravid and Pandey got the team off to a solid start, Kohli stole the show with some fantastic hitting. The turning point of Bangalore's innings came in the 17th over when they smashed 19 runs of Ethan O'Reilly's last over. Thanks to Kohli's exploits, Bangalore will party hard into the night. Stay tuned for the presentation....