Chennai: Chennai Super Kings batsmen perished under pressure as Anil Kumble’s three-wicket haul helped Bangalore Royal Challengers register a 14-run win, their first victory after five consecutive defeats, in the Indian Premier League match here Wednesday.

Chasing a modest target of 127 to win, the home batsmen spoilt a good platform provided by openers Stephen Fleming and Parthiv Patel to manage only 112 runs for the loss of eight wickets.

The defeat at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium meant that Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men, with 14 points from 12 matches, will have to wait further to book their semi-final berth.

Fleming (45 off 40 balls) and Patel (24 off 29 balls) provided a solid start to the Super Kings putting up a decent 60-run partnership for the opening wicket.

The New Zealander was more attractive of the two, hitting three crisp fours and two towering sixes in his knock. Patel also played some delightful shots to get four boundaries.

Man of the Match Kumble broke the partnership when he had Patel caught off his own bowling.

Dhoni promoted himself up the order but did not last long as Vinay Kumar got him caught by Kumble when the Super Kings skipper was only on four.

Kumble banked on his experience to bring the Royal Challengers back to the game as he struck twice in his fourth and final over to dismiss Fleming and S Badrinath (1). Lured by a delivery on the leg stump, Fleming went for a big shot and finished in the hands of Akhil Kumar on the deep square leg boundary. The pressure then got to the home team and they squandered the early advantage.

Earlier, Albie Morkel’s four-wicket haul helped the hosts restrict Bangalore Royal Challengers to 126 for eight.

(Agencies)