Images: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Deccan Chargers

Deccan Chargers' captain Adam Gilchrist called correctly and opted to field first against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

The Chargers would have initially been happy with their decision to field first as they had the home team struggling at 69 for four at the halfway mark. However, some lusty blows in the death overs helped the Royal Challengers eventually reach 184 for six.

Kallis began aggressively hitting Harmeet Singh for a boundary between backward point and cover and following it up with a massive six over deep extra cover in the second over.

However, the Bangalore team had their first set back when Ryan Harris brought the visitors right back into the game by rattling Manish Pandey's (1) stumps in the third over.

Rahul Dravid (26) was promoted up the order, but it was of no help as the Royal Challengers' score was brought down considerably after the fall of the first wicket.

There was the odd boundary and Mitchell Marsh was on the receiving end. Both Kallis and Dravid gave the 18-year-old a harsh welcome as they hammered three boundaries of his first over.

Dravid went about his innings in very casual fashion as there was no urgency in his innings. He was finally holed out by Rohit Sharma at point off the bowling of Pragyan Ojha.

Kallis, the holder of the Orange Cap as the tournament's top scorer, completed his 10th IPL fifty.

The South African's 68 was his sixth half-century in the ongoing edition of the IPL and took his tally in the tournament to 493 runs in 10 matches.

There was a flurry of wickets after the dismissal of Dravid. Bangalore had been reduced from 60 for one to 68 for four in the space of three overs.

The Royal Challengers went into the second strategic timeout - taken after 14 overs - in deep trouble at 92 for four.

Soon after resumption, Virat Kohli (58 off 35 deliveries) cut loose smashing 23 runs in the 17th over bowled by Symonds.

Kallis joined the party by smashing successive boundaries off RP Singh in the next over.

The South African was caught by Harris at deep point in the penultimate over to give young Marsh his first wicket.

Kohli was caught by Symonds at long-on off Harris.

But Cameron White (13 not out) hit successive sixes off the last two balls to ensure the Bangalore fightback ended on a perfect note.

Chasing 185 for victory, the Deccan Chargers got to the total with ease despite the initial hiccups. The Chargers made 186 for 3 in 19.3 overs, their highest score ever in the IPL.

The Deccan Chargers' innings got off to a disastrous start when Praveen Kumar induced an edge of Monish Mishra's (9) blade in the third over and Robin Uthappa took a splendid catch behind the stumps.

Chargers' captain Gilchrist (32) was kept quiet for the first few overs of the innings. But within no time he was off and dispatched Dale Steyn for a boundary.

Gilchrist was allowed to face just 11 balls in the first seven overs. As the field restrictions eased Gilchrist first sent Kallis over the boundary and later hoisted a Kumble delivery over deep midwicket for yet another maximum.

But Kumble got his revenge in the same over as he had Gilchrist stumped by Robin Uthappa.

The second wicket partnership between Gilly and T Suman yielded Deccan Chargers 77 runs.

Rohit Sharma (6) didn't last long, R Vinay Kumar having him caught by Steyn at mid-off.

Suman made a superlative 57-ball 78 not out, that included six boundaries and thee sixes.

Andrew Symonds, who came after the dismissal of Rohit Sharma, combined well with T Suman in a fourth-wicket partnership that revived the Deccan chase.

The duo put together an unbeaten 91-run partnership for the fourth wicket in just 46 balls to complete a remarkable Chargers' revival.

Suman reached his maiden fifty with a massive six off Kumble over deep midwicket and he celebrated it with another maximum to the same area, this time off Vinay Kumar.

Now, both Symonds and Suman started to gel well at the crease. They found the sweet spot more often than not and ensured to slap a boundary or a six at regular intervals.

Andrew Symonds hit successive boundaries off Steyn and one off Kumble in the space of four balls to ease the pressure a bit.

Their consistently found the boundary and ensured that the Chargers needed just 28 runs off their last three overs.

Symonds smashed Kallis for a maximum over long-off in the penultimate over to ensure just nine was required from the final over.

The Australian smashed the first two balls of Vinay Kumar's last over for a maximum and a boundary.

And it was all over for the home team.