Bengaluru, Oct. 8: J.P. Duminy struck a majestic unbeaten 52-ball 99 to power South African champions Cape Cobras to a thrilling five-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the opening game of the Champions League T20 here on Thursday.

Set to chase 181, the 25-year old southpaw hit five towering sixes — including one in the final over — and eight fours to guide the Cobras home with two balls to spare.

Duminy came in at a tricky situation when Herschelle Gibbs went off the first ball. Royal Challengers Bangalore’ Praveen Kumar bowled a gem of a delivery that sent the explosive opener back.

Andrew Puttick too didn’t survive longer as the Cobras skipper also fell to Praveen’s outswinger. With the openers back in the pavilion — the Cobras’ score reading 14/2 — a lot depended on Duminy and the left-hander answered his team’s cause in a spectacular fashion.

For the little Duminy, it didn’t matter that he was playing in the Indian conditions for the first time. He paced his innings in such a way that he was at the end when Cobras reached the target.

Needing two for his century and also for his team to win, Duminy showed team spirit when he took a single and gave the strike to Rory Kleinveldt, who finished off with a four.

Earlier, Robin Uthappa 51 (39b, 7x4 2x6) and Ross Taylor 53 (24b, 4x4, 4x6) set the stadium on fire with some amazing strokeplay that gave RCB the advantage going into the innings break.

Uthappa at his best can be destructive but the recent loss of form might have only made him nervous on the big day. The Kodava lad began tentatively, survived a dropped chance and swung and missed a few times, but later on played some delightful strokes.

Until then the Cobras opening bowlers Langeveldt and Rory Kleinveldt had tested Uthappa with short balls, but the first-change bowlers pitched the ball too far up as Uthappa came into his element.

Uthappa struck two superbly timed sixes in a Monde Zondeki over, the second one bringing up his fifty, before he fell off the next ball. The right-hander sliced a fuller-ball to Gibbs, who held on to a sharp catch at point.

Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli looked in fine touch, before gifting their wickets away. Much depended on the 25-year-old Taylor, and the Kiwi batsman used the long handle to good effect.

Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 180/4 in 20 overs (Taylor 53 n.o., Uthappa 51, Dravid 28; Langeveldt 1/12) lost to Cape Cobras 184/5 in 19.4 overs (Duminy 99 n.o., David 27, Canning 20; Praveen Kumar 3/32)