Bengaluru, Oct. 12: Royal Challengers Bangalore team owner Vijay Mallya jumped out of his seat and pumped his fist in the air as Brendon McCullum slowly trudged off the pitch. McCullum brings bad memories to the RCB team, having taken a pounding from the Kiwi opener in the 2008 IPL opener when he smashed an unbeaten 158 for the Kolkata Knight Riders.

However, history wasn’t to be repeated in the Champions League T20 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Monday as the RCB skittled out Otago Volts for 108 in 17.5 overs and the danger-man McCullum managed just 5. The 80-run victory took RCB to the next round of the tournament from Group C, along with the South African side Cape Cobras.

It was a must-win tie for RCB and the least they wanted was McCullum to fire on all cylinders, even though Otago Volts were chasing a daunting 189 for victory and a place in the next round of the inaugural event.

However, Jacques Kallis, who had earlier made an unbeaten 73 (59b, 4x4, 2x6), was RCB’s man as he got rid of McCullum, caught by skipper Anil Kumble at long-on. Two more wickets were to follow for Kallis as he capped a perfect day, finishing with an impressive 3/18 in four overs.

The rest of the bowlers followed suit as none of the Otago batsmen gave a semblance of scare to RCB.

Earlier, Robin Uthappa 42 (31b, 5x4, 2x6) and Kallis entertained the near capacity RCB flag-waving crowd, with some good power hitting. Local boy Uthappa was off the blocks quickly, with a punch over the covers off Neil Wagner and followed it up with a huge one over long-on off Dimitri Mascarenhas.

On the other hand, Kallis struggled with his timing but with Uthappa in good nick, the run-rate was never a problem. The Kodava lad looked good for more until he was brilliantly caught by Otago skipper Craig Cumming off Aaron Redmond, ending a 75-run (59b) first wicket stand.

Virat Kohli, promoted ahead of Rahul Dravid, kept the scoreboard ticking, till he fell to old habits. The Delhi youngster once again failed to convert a start, falling to Wagner for 32 (19b, 5x4). But the RCB fans weren’t complaining — a huge cheer greeted Ross Taylor to the crease.

But it was Kallis, who began his charge with four overs left. Until then the South African veteran was happy to hang around as his younger colleagues made the bulk of scoring. He took two sixes off Wagner and Ian Butler to set the stage for Taylor in the final over and the Kiwi did not disappoint. Three sixes and a four came off Taylor’s blade as the right-hander smashed 32 off just 11 balls (2x4, 3x6) to set the momentum for RCB.For RCB, now the challenge will be to take the momentum into the league stage where the top teams will fight for the semifinal spot. And if Monday’s performance is an indication then RCB is up for the challenge.

Scores: RCB 188/2 in 20 overs (Kallis 73 not out, Uthappa 42, Kohli 32, Taylor 32 not out; Redmond 1/23) bt Otago Volts 108 in 17.5 overs (Cumming 20, Boorder 16; Kallis 3/18, Kumble 2/20, Vinay Kumar 2/20)