Warriors of South Africa clinched a thrilling last-ball victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Champions League 2011 Twenty20 opening encounter at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday.

Chasing 173 for a victory, Warriors reached the target in the last ball, with Wayne Parnell scoring the required two runs, thus securing a three wicket victory over the hosts.

Ashwell Prince gave a good start to the South African team, scoring 74 from 55 balls, including six fours and three sixes. Captain Johan Botha also chipped in with a useful 42 from just 24 balls, giving a clear chance for the team to overhaul Bangalore’s competitive target.

Botha said: “Batting with Prince kept me nice and calm and I went for my shots and it came off for me. Myself and Rusty kept counting every over. I had to go for it. We thought we needed a good start. I thought I blew it. I thought those three balls cost my team but Parnell struck it nicely.”

Earlier Royal Challengers Bangalore set a target of 173 runs for Warriors.

Put to bat first, RCB scored 172 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the stipulated 20 overs after its skipper Danier Vittori lost the toss to Warriors captain Johan Botha.

Useful contributions from Chris Gayle (23), Virat Kohli (34), AB de Villiers (31), Saurabh Tiwary (28) and Mohammad Kaif (26) helped the Bangalore team reach a decent Twenty20 score.

About 20,000 did-hard cricket fans flocked to the Chinnaswamy Stadium here to watch the match.

The third edition of the Champions League started with musical performance by rap singers Jay Sean and Flo Rida followed by the entry of batting (RCB) and bowling (Warriors) teams onto the green outfield on a breezy autumn night.

The squads with their respective captains were led onto the field by a flag bearer each carrying the team flags as the night sky was lit up with fireworks.

A two-minute silence was observed by the players and officials in homage to former Indian skipper Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi who passed away in New Delhi Thursday. Even hundreds of fans in the stands joined the teams during the sombre occasion. The stadium in the city centre was turned into a fortress with about 1,000 police personnel deployed in and around it as part of heightened security