Johannesburg, May 23: It looks surreal but the two teams that were at the bottom of the points table in 2008 will contest the 2009 Indian Premier League final. Bangalore Royal Challengers beat Chennai Super Kings by six wickets to earn a date with Deccan Chargers on Sunday at the Wanderers on Saturday to underwrite yet again that cricket does not always follow the ordained script.

The Chennai attack was too generous from the start. Defending 146 required a lot more discipline especially with the new ball, but Albie Morkel and Manpreet Gony were on the shorter side and even the thickly populated off-side field could only admire the ball racing to the ropes.

Chennai got a lucky break when Jacques Kallis was wrongly adjudged caught-behind for just nine and Roelof van der Merwe lasted just one ball after being dropped by Muttiah Muralitharan, who failed to hold on to a catch after covering good ground. From there it was a Manish Pandey-Rahul Dravid show.

The duo added 72 runs in 9.4 overs to lay the foundation for victory. Pandey stood out for the confidence he showed. He did not hold back on his shots and collected his singles with purpose. With quick silver movement, he was able to transfer weight and find the gaps with ease.

With 47 runs required for victory the exuberance of youth took over and the momentary lapse of concentration led to Pandey’s fall, bowled by Shadab Jakati. Pandey followed up his century with a superb 48 off 35 balls with seven glorious boundaries.

Dravid flowed like vintage champagne. After surviving two confident appeals by Muralitharan, Dravid was finally dismissed for 44 off 39 balls (6x4), missing a sweep.

Murali operated with a slip and backward short leg to probe the batsman further. His first three overs went for seven and gave Chennai an outside chance. But Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli struck two sixes apiece to guide the team home with seven balls to spare.

Earlier, to insert a strong Chennai batting on an easy deck was a bold decision by Anil Kumble, but losing wickets at regular intervals prevented Chennai from building up momentum. For a change, Partiv Patel took centre stage while Matthew Hayden (back in place of George Bailey) played second fiddle. Kallis followed a good first over from Praveen Kumar with a loose one. Parthiv obliged with three boundaries as Chennai set the ball rolling.

Parthiv was provided the width to free his arms outside the off stump. The southpaw was also only too happy to make use of the wide gap on the on-side when the ball drifted to his pads. Hayden caught up with a few lusty hits but the timing was missing. The 50 came in the sixth over when Hayden managed to clear covers by a few inches. Kumble bowled a teasing line and once again demonstrated the value of experience in this format.

Hayden lived dangerously while Parthiv started rotating the strike. Going for a swing over mid-wicket the Aussie failed to connect well and Pandey took a comfortable catch. Vinay Kumar was the bowler. The combination of Kumble and Roelof van der Merwe curtailed the flow.

The last 10 overs produced 72 runs, appreciably less than expected.