Jean-Paul Duminy silenced a capacity Chinnaswamy crowd with a superb unbeaten 99 as the Cobras crashed Bangalore's party in a thrilling opening to the Champions League on Thursday night.

On the whole the visiting side were completely overawed by their surrounds on a seminal night for club cricket, dropping three catches and allowing the Royal Challengers to post a daunting target of 181 before Duminy's experience hauled them to a five-wicket victory with two balls to spare.

It was easy to sympathise with the Cobras youngsters, who were each booed by a capacity crowd as their name was read out just moments after their South African counterparts on the Bangalore side received rousing ovations. And it was a night worthy of awe as 50,000 spectators were treated to what can only be described as disco cricket.

The DJ pumped out big beats, fireworks graced the clear night sky and a world-class laser show filled the stadium during an impressive opening ceremony. The crowd cheered at every turn and by the time the Cobras had lost the toss and taken the field they were well aware of what they were up against.

Charl Langeveldt partially settled their nerves by bowling three overs for just 12 runs, and though the fast bowler was forced to leave the field with an injury after landing awkwardly as he put down a chance at mid-on, he'd already ensured that the home side were off to an unspectacular start.

The first six of the match only arrived in the 11th over when Robin Uthappa sent Monde Zondeki into the second tier at long-on with a majestic strike. Opener Uthappa brought up his half-century three balls later with another six back over the bowler's head but then displayed a poor piece of sportsmanship, standing his ground after blatantly scooping the next one straight to Herschelle Gibbs at point.

Bangalore still had wickets in hand though, and after the ground had greeted Ross Taylor with chants of 'Taylooooor, Taylor!' - the sort of reception usually reserved for local heros - the Kiwi took full advantage of that platform to blast 53 from 24 balls and secure what appeared to be a winning total.

When Gibbs was out in the first over of the Cobras reply it looked like their nerves, which had prevented them taking regular wickets to restrict Bangalore, had already decided the match.

Yet as overwhelmed as they'd been in the field, with a bat in their hand they looked at ease with their surrounds. While they could never have done it without Duminy's masterful, 52-ball innings, which he later admitted was the best he'd played in twenty20, captain Andrew Puttick (11 from 11 balls), Henry Davids (27 from 21), Justin Ontong (19 from 14) and wicketkeeper Ryan Canning (20 off 18) all stroked the ball around calmly to complement the night's star performer.

Duminy hit regular boundaries to keep the required run rate hovering within range before increasing the pace to leave just nine needed from the last over. When Vinay Kumar was dispatched over long-on for Duminy's fifth maximum, the game was sealed and the only disappointment was seeing Duminy finish one short of a deserved ton.

The crowd had arrived at the stadium two hours in advance and the stadium had hardly stopped jumping since, but as the Capetonian was called up to the podium to receive his man of the match award there were fewer than 1000 people left to witness it.

The Champions League had the dream start it wanted and the party has begun, but the Cobras have shown that the foreign sides have every intention of taking full part.

Tristan Holme in Bangalore