Semis are a different ball game, says Kumble

Victorious Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Anil Kumble expressed happiness for progressing to the semi-finals of the Indian Premier League and feels from here on it is anybody's game as on a given day any side can outsmart the other.

Royal Challengers yesterday defeated Deccan Chargers by 12-runs to move to the third spot in the points table and qualify for the semis where they will meet Chennai Super Kings tomorrow.

Although Deccan Chargers lost yesterday, they also qualified for the semi-finals as the fourth team and will take on the mighty Delhi Daredevils tonight.

"It's a great thing for us considering what happened last year. Even this year we started well but then slumped to four losses in a row and then came back again," Kumble said after the match.

"We are extremely happy to have made it to the last four. But from here anybody can win on their day. So we back ourselves with the way we played in the last four games. It's been brilliant and will take this confidence going into the semi-final," Kumble added.

The Bangalore skipper was full of praise for young Manish Pandey who scored a brilliant 114 off just 73 balls to set the platform for the victory. "It was a brilliant hundred. Manish had a few opportunities but didn't get to bat. In the other games he was batting lower down the order so we just took a chance and send him up and he came off really well.

"The way he batted was brilliant," Kumble said. He also lauded Balachandra Akhil for taking up the responsibility in the bowling department in Kallis absence. Kallis left the field after bowling his first over due to an injury and in his absence Akhil responded to his captain's call picking up two crucial wickets for 18 runs.

"Defending 170 on a good wicket against Deccan was a brilliant effort," Kumble said. Meanwhile, losing skipper Adam Gilchrist admitted that his side was totally outplayed by Royal Challengers. "We were outplayed today. We aren't as sharp as we would liked to be. It would have been nice to have a positive result going into the semis.

"But now we are going to freshen up our mind. Now it's totally different with four teams in the race. Any one can beat any one else on their night," Gilchrist said.