ANOTHER HUMILATING LOSS OF UNDER FIRE..BANGLORE

Mohali: It could not have gone worse for Bangalore. With Rahul Dravid's men facing the heat from all corners, a nine-wicket thrashing by Mohali in game 34 of the Indian Premier League here on Monday meant that Bangalore's run in the competition is now bordering on humiliation.
Bangalore's meager 143-run total was never going to be challenging enough but Shaun Marsh's blistering 51-ball knock handed out an embarrassing defeat to the visitors as Mohali galloped to their target in the 16th over.
In their previous encounter too, Mohali had cantered home, drubbing Bangalore by six wickets at the Chinnaswamy stadium one week ago.
On a decent pitch, the Bangalore batsmen showed momentary sparks but it never came together for them. Virat Kohli and Misbah-ul-Haq flowed for a brief period while Mark Boucher and Dravid displayed grit but it was never going to be enough.
It was the combination of Indian bowlers and Aussie batsmen, which worked like a charm for Mohali. After S Sreesanth (3-29) and company restricted Bangalore to 143-8, the Aussie trio of Marsh, James Hopes and Luke Pomersbach flayed the bowlers to take Mohali to the top of the points table below Jaipur.
The impressive Marsh brought up another half-century as he smashed the deflated Bangalore attack to all corners of the ground, bludgeoning nine boundaries and two sixes in his unbeaten 74. He, along with Hopes, took the home side off to a steady start before Hopes departed for 27.
In a surprise move, Pomersbach was sent at number three and in his first game in the tournament, he blazed an unbeaten 24-ball 34, which included three boundaries and two sixes.
Pomersbach and Marsh added an unbroken 112-run stand in less than 10 overs as the duo took the Bangalore bowling to the cleaners. Marsh was particularly severe on the visitors spearhead, Dale Steyn, pounding him ruthlessly for 33 runs in his two overs.
Earlier, Mohali bowlers refused to give an inch to Bangalore as the visitors failed to get any momentum going for a sizable passage. Regular wickets pegged them back and despite cameos by Misbah-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli and some solid rearguard action by skipper Dravid and Mark Boucher, the beleaguered Bangalore team never had control over the proceedings in the middle.