Shikhar Dhawan cracked an unbeaten 95 and Amit Mishra took a hat-trick as Deccan Chargers knocked Kings XI Punjab out of the Indian Premier League with an 82-run victory on Saturday.

Punjab’s loss also simplified the points table math in the IPL, putting Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians in the play-offs.

Punjab had staged a late turnaround in their title bid, winning their last four matches. They needed to win today to retain an outside chance of making the play-offs at the expense of either Mumbai or Kolkata.

Chennai (18 points), Bangalore (17), Kolkata (16) and Mumbai (16) are the four teams in the play-offs. They are followed by Punjab (14), Rajasthan (13), Deccan (12), Kochi (12), Pune (eight) and Delhi (eight).

Left-handed opener Dhawan, who hit one six and 14 fours in his 57-ball knock, put on 131 for the opening wicket with Ravi Teja (60) as Deccan made 198-2 before bowling Punjab out for 116.
Skipper Adam Gilchrist top-scored with a 37-ball 51 for Punjab, who put in a below-par batting and fielding performance. The captain, who hit two sixes and six fours, added 61 for the third wicket with Dinesh Karthik (11).

Deccan virtually wrapped up the match when Australian paceman Daniel Christian dismissed Gilchrist and Karthik in the space of three balls to reduce Punjab to 84-4 in 11 overs.

Leg-spinner Mishra’s hat-trick came in his third over when he removed Ryan McLaren, Mandeep Singh and Ryan Harris to eventually finish with 4-9.

Teja, dropped thrice during his 41-ball knock, hit two sixes and five fours in his team’s final match, watched by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama who also met players before the start of the game.

He reached his half-century in style, hitting a six off leg-spinner Piyush Chawla who conceded 48 in his four overs. Deccan plundered 113 runs in the last 10 overs to set a stiff target.

Source: Yahoo Cricket

A bowling attack having four Test bowlers bowled to its world-class potential for once and Deccan Chargers’ batting did not stumble chasing a middling total to end Pune Warriors’ slim hopes of making the play-offs.

Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma gave the Pune top- and middle-order a complete working over, each posing various problems of flight, turn, pace and bounce. For once, Daniel Christian was much more than just the supporting cast, and the result was that apart from the opening over, there was only one team that dominated most of the match, and it wasn’t Pune. Had it not been for Mitchell Marsh’s counterattacking innings, Pune would have struggled even more.

After Kumar Sangakkara began with JP Duminy in his last IPL game, the introduction of Steyn and Ishant was the start of Pune’s woes. Manish Pandey looked as out of place as a bargain hunter in a fixed-price store, top-edging half-hearted pulls and slashing wildly over slip.

Jesse Ryder looked much more comfortable, but he fell to a blinder from Ravi Teja at cover, who dived to his left to pouch a powerful drive. Sourav Ganguly did not last long. His first attempt to carve Christian over extra cover resulted in a swing-and-miss. The next one resulted in a simple chance to Ojha at mid-off. Ojha foxed Pandey with one that came in to uproot middle stump.

Pune were already in trouble at 45 for 3 when they ran in to Mishra, Deccan’s most successful bowler this season, and the architect of their surprise win over Mumbai Indians. The first delivery struck Robin Uthappa on the pads as he missed the flick, the fourth was a loopy legbreak that dipped on him and produced a fatal leading edge that popped to Mishra. The fifth was even better. It was tossed up outside off stump and Mithun Manhas set himself up for the cut, expecting it to turn away. To his horror, it was the googly that turned in and bowled him off the inside edge as Pune slipped to 45 for 5.

Once again, it was down to Yuvraj Singh to lift Pune out of the hole the other batsmen had dug. Yuvraj looked the part, slamming Ojha for consecutive boundaries in the tenth over, but he could not hang around for long, top-edging a wild pull off Christian to Sangakkara.

Marsh showed glimpses of why he is talked about so much, smacking the spinners for sixes after having taken his time to settle. Deccan managed 34 runs off the last three overs, courtesy Marsh and Wayne Parnell, and that lifted them to a fighting total which they would have gladly taken at 45 for 5. Deccan hadn’t won a match chasing this season, and Pune hadn’t won while setting a target. The latter trend was to continue.

Pune’s only hope was to rattle Deccan’s brittle batting line-up early but with both Shikhar Dhawan and Sunny Sohal managing to perform to expectation, their slender hopes of making the play-offs started to disappear. The Deccan openers stuck to their usual selves; Dhawan chugged smoothly to 28 before throwing it away, Sohal threatened to do so throughout his 34 before Rahul Sharma trapped him leg-before.

While Dhawan drove and punched for delightful boundaries through extra cover, Sohal did what he does best, swing at everything, hit some and miss some. There were sixes over extra cover and long-on; he also earned a wide for height as he fell away trying to flail at a short ball from two feet outside leg stump. An opening stand of 67 in 49 deliveries meant Pune needed Deccan to fall apart like they themselves had earlier, but Sangakkara and Duminy ensured Pune were firmly shut out of the game, and knocked out of the race for the play-offs. The only thing Deccan were left wondering was how their season could have gone if their potential had been realised earlier.

Abhishek Purohit is an editorial assistant at ESPNcricinfo

Anand Rajan took three wickets and Ishant Sharma took two as Deccan Chargers pulled off a stunning 10-run victory over Mumbai Indians in their IPL match at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.

Chasing a victory target of 136 runs, Mumbai could manage 125/8 in their 20 overs.

Rajan scalped Tirumalasetti Suman and Sachin Tendulkar in one over to reduce Mumbai Indians to 83/6 in 16 overs.

Rajan first had Suman caught by Shikhar Dhawan at long-on and three balls later trapped Tendulkar plumb in front of the wicket.

Tendulkar hit 3 fours in his 42-ball 37 before falling to Rajan.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra had Andrew Symonds caught by Ishant Sharma at long-off to reduce Mumbai Indians to 54/4.

Symonds scored 8 runs off 19 balls before falling to Mishra.

Ishant Sharma dismissed Ambati Rayudu and Rohit Sharma in his successive overs to place Mumbai Indians at 25/3.

Jean-Paul Duminy gave Deccan the first breakthrough in the third over when he clean bowled Aiden Blizzard with a beauty of a delivery that pitched on leg-stump and hit the top of off-stump.

Ishant struck in the next over when Rayudu walked too much across and was clean bowled from behind his legs.

Ishant then bowled a superb leg-cutter to have Rohit caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara.

Earlier, Dhawal Kulkarni took three wickets as Mumbai Indians restricted Deccan Chargers to 135/6.

23 runs came off the last over of the Deccan innings that was bowled by Munaf Patel.

Shikhar Dhawan hit a six off the first delivery and took a single off the next.

Amit Mishra then hit the last four deliveries for fours and even collided and exchanged quite a few heated words with Munaf.

Kulkarni took his third wicket when he clean bowled Daniel Christian with a superb yorker.

Deccan lost their fifth wicket when Kulkarni had Bharat Chipli caught by Tirumalasetti Suman in the covers off a slower delivery.

Deccan lost Sunny Sohal and Jean-Paul Duminy in successive overs to be reduced to 58/4 in 10.4 overs.

Kieron Pollard had Sohal caught by Andrew Symonds at backward point and in the next over, Harbhajan Singh had Duminy stumped by Ambati Rayudu for the double breakthrough.

Deccan lost their second wicket when Pollard took a superb catch running backwards to dismiss Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara off Kulkarni.

Sangakkara hit a six and a four in his 28-ball 27 before falling to Kulkarni.

Lasith Malinga gave Mumbai Indians an early breakthrough when he clean bowled Michael Lumb on the second ball of the match.

The breakthrough came after Sangakkara won the toss and chose to bat.

For Deccan, Michael Lumb and Anand Rajan come in for Dale Steyn and Ravi Teja respectively. Mumbai are unchanged from the last match.

Teams:

Mumbai Indians: Sachin Tendulkar (Capt.), Aiden Blizzard, Ambati Rayudu, Kieron Pollard, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Tirumalasetti Suman, Dhawal Kulkarni, Harbhajan Singh, Munaf Patel, Lasith Malinga.

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal, Bharat Chipli, Jean-Paul Duminy, Daniel Christian, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Anand Rajan, Michael Lumb.

Source: Times of India

Deccan Chargers were handcuffed by Yuvraj Singh’s round-arm left-arm spin, submitting to a middling total after a flashy start. They lost two wickets to Yuvraj at crucial junctures, and scored only 17 off his four overs. Mitchell Marsh and Rahul Sharma did their bit too, conceding 49 in their eight overs. Marsh was rewarded handsomely with three wickets in the 19th over with frustrated batsmen looking to force the pace. Jesse Ryder and Manish Pandey made light work of the chase, although this game was inconsequential to qualification for further rounds.

With the way Shikhar Dhawan and DB Ravi Teja started the game, a facile win would have been the last thing on Pune Warriors’ minds. They brought up the fifty in the sixth over, but Yuvraj dismissed Dhawan in his first over, and the squeeze that followed slowed Deccan down. Five fours and two sixes were hit in the first six overs, only six boundaries in the rest of the piece.

Dhawan and Teja were good against the medium pace of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shrikanth Wagh, and Dhawan welcomed Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell to the crease with sixes. When he tried to do the same to Yuvraj, who had brought himself on to stop the bleeding, the bowler pulled the length back, bowled a little slower, and Dhawan could only sky him to cover. Marsh followed it up with a played-on dismissal of Teja’s. At 56 for 2 in the eighth over, Kumar Sangakkara and JP Duminy tried to make sure there were no more quick strikes.

However, Rahul beat Sangakkara’s sweep with a flat, straight delivery. Yuvraj came back, and tortured Daniel Christian with deliveries that wouldn’t spin. Finally Christian played around his front pad to be caught dead plumb. At 98 for 3 in the 15th over, the onus was on Duminy to take Deccan to a good total. However, as has been the case of late, Duminy couldn’t make a telling contribution, managing a run-a-ball 30.

Dale Steyn, faced with the prospect of defending a pedestrian total, took matters in his own hands, and scored 10 off the last over, in the process scoring only the third boundary since the 15th over. Ryder, though, was quick to see off the only threat to their chase. He punched, drove and hooked Steyn for four, four and six in the first over. Between them, Ryder and Pandey scored 84 off 62, which basically finished off the chase. Before the end, though, the enthusiastic crowd finally got to see their beloved Sourav Ganguly bat in this IPL, who stayed there till the end, scoring a run-a-ball 32, including the trademark six over midwicket off Amit Mishra.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

Virender Sehwag scored a sensational ton as Delhi Daredevils established a thumping 4-wicket win over Deccan Chargers in their IPL match at the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

A single-handed virtuoso performance from Sehwag has handed his side an improbable win.

One of the most devastating hundreds that one will ever see in the game of cricket. Though he was dropped twice, it was some sight to see Viru tear the opposition apart. The crowd’s roar when Sehwag got to his 100 showed how great an innings it was.

After the end of 7 overs Daredevils were 32/3 and looked down and out, but, single over of Ishan Malhotra turned the game on it’s head. Sehwag looted 23 off it and from then on it was just carnage all around.

Sehwag who played one of the best IPL innings a few games ago at Kochi, just bettered himself.

The white ball soared repeatedly over the fence as the supporters of the home side were sent into gasping bouts of amazement.

Virender Sehwag became the 6th Indian to score a century in the IPL. It was the 4th individual hundred of IPL 4 and 16th in the IPL history so far.

Ishant Sharma dismissed Naman Ojha and Venugopal Rao early to put the Delhi Daredevils on the backfoot.

Ishant dismissed Rao (3) of a short delivery. Rao backed away and tried to slash the ball hard but only managed to miscue it high in the air towards point as JP Duminy took a brilliant catch.

A brilliant half-century from JP Duminy helped Deccan Chargers set Delhi Daredevils 176 runs to win.

Duminy who was replaced in place of White, belted some huge sixes and brought up a quick-fire fifty.

Yogesh Nagar got both Christian and Duminy out, but both were overturned as he had overstepped. Sloppy stuff from Delhi even as credit has to be given to Sangakkara, who played a classy knock.

Only Aavishkar Salvi and Ajit Agarkar impressed with the ball for the Daredevils.

Deccan Chargers lost their openers Shikhar Dhawan (29) and Ravi Teja (2) early.

After a good partnership with captain Kumar Sangakkara, Dhawan came forward to an Agarkar delivery and drove it straight to mid on where Aavishkar Salvi took a dolly.

Earlier, Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag won the toss and elected to field first.

Delhi have made three changes for the match as they brought in Avishkar Salvi, Aaron Finch and James Hopes in place of Warner, Van Der Merwe, and Umesh Yadav.

Where as Deccan have made one change, Ishant Malhotra replaces Pragyan Ojha.

Teams:

Delhi Daredevils: Virender Sehwag (c), Morne Morkel, Irfan Pathan, Travis Birt, Ajit Agarkar, Y Venugopal Rao, Aaron Finch, Naman Ojha, James Hopes, Aavishkar Salvi, Yogesh Nagar.

Deccan Chargers: Sunny Sohal, Shikhar Dhawanm, Kumar Sangakkara, Jean Paul Duminy, Daniel Christian, Ravi Teja, Bharat Chipli, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Ishan Malhotra, Ishant Sharma.

Source: Times of India

Deccan Chargers dropped too many catches in the first half of the game to allow Kolkata Knight Riders to motor along to 169, and then dropped intensity alarmingly in the chase to succumb to their sixth defeat in nine games. Yusuf Pathan was the biggest beneficiary of Deccan’s fielding largesse, surviving three clangers to pummel his way to his highest score of the season. His assault yielded 47 off 26 balls, and he helped Kolkata double their score in the last eight overs in Manoj Tiwary’s company.

Deccan’s pursuit followed a similar template to their misfiring chase against Chennai: Sunny Sohal kept opening up the off side and swiping in hope and Shikhar Dhawan once again receded into a shell after starting with promise. As he has done regularly this season, Iqbal Abdulla made things happen, removing Sohal and Kumar Sangakkara in his second over with clever changes of pace. Cameron White then crawled listlessly as the chase slumped to a mid-innings comatose. Rajat Bhatia put White out of his misery in the 11th over, and the game was over as a contest when Daniel Christian was wrongly adjudged lbw three balls later. Dhawan tried to reignite Deccan’s hopes, but the innings had meandered too far off course by then.

It seemed unlikely that Deccan would be chasing 170 when they limited Kolkata to 84 for 3 by the 12th over. Gautam Gambhir exited at that pivotal juncture, leaving two new batsmen to do a repair job. Deccan, however, simply refused to seize the moment. Pragyan Ojha kept attacking with flight, and Yusuf tried to break free by lofting over the leg side. He was beaten in the air, though, and Amit Mishra ran back at long-off to get under the mis-hit. Drop. In the next over, Mishra had Yusuf miscuing in the same direction, towards Christian. Another drop. The next ball was whacked with the turn over the extra-cover boundary, and Kolkata never looked back.

Sangakkara missed a trick by holding Dale Steyn’s second spell back until the 16th over. Yusuf had got his eye in by then, and the fact that Tiwary faced that entire over did not help Deccan’s cause. Tiwary looted two off-side fours off Steyn, before Yusuf thumped Ishant Sharma for a massive six over long-on. By the time Dhawan grassed Yusuf again in the 19th over, Deccan were in damage-control mode, and doing a poor job at it. Tiwary launched Christian for six more, before Yusuf fore-handed Ishant and whipped Steyn for boundaries to ensure Kolkata finished with a bang.

The start of Kolkata’s innings was a dawdle by comparison, in spite of Eoin Morgan’s innate energy at the crease. He nearly ran himself out first ball, and charged out to the third and dumped Christian over long-on for a six. Thereafter Jacques Kallis settled into accumulation mode. He checked in with a typically pristine set of boundaries, charming Steyn through the covers, before redirecting short balls from Ishant on either side of the wicket for fours.

Gambhir took charge after Christian foxed Morgan with a slow offcutter. Gambhir lofted his first ball emphatically over the covers for four, before slashing Ojha through point. His joust with Christian was the most captivating mini-battle of the session, and included a heaved pull for six, a drop, a collision and a heated exchange of words. Kolkata progressed to 73 in the first ten overs, and Deccan were in need of some inspiration. The spinners produced just that, with Mishra foxing Kallis in the flight and Ojha hoodwinking Gambhir, but the fielding was about to let them down big-time. Yusuf exacted full toll, and ensured it was another forgettable night for the Hyderabad supporters who have witnessed only one home win in three-and-a-half seasons.

Nitin Sundar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Albie Morkel took 3 wickets after Suresh Raina’s 35-ball 59 as Chennai Super Kings beat Deccan Chargers by 19 runs in their IPL match at MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on Sunday.

Chasing a victory target of 166 runs, Deccan managed 146/8 in their 20 overs.

Doug Bollinger clean bowled Deccan Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara as the visitors lost their fourth wicket.

Sangakkara walked way outside off-stump for the pick-up shot over short fine leg, but missed the delivery that went on to hit the middle stump. Sangakkara hit a six and a four in his 12-ball 15.

Morkel then dismissed Cameron White and Jean Paul Duminy in the 19th over to put the match beyond Deccan’s reach.

Deccan opener Sunny Sohal hit 4 sixes and 6 fours in his 31-ball 56 before he was clean bowled by Shadab Jakati.

Jakati took his second wicket when he clean bowled Shikhar Dhawan to place Deccan at 90/2.

Deccan lost their third wicket when Albie Morkel had Bharat Chipli caught by Jakati to reduce Deccan to 110/3.

Earlier, Suresh Raina’s 35-ball 59 and Michael Hussey’s 41-ball 45 powered Chennai Super Kings to 165/5.

Albie Morkel hit three sixes off the last three balls of the 19th over bowled by Ishant Sharma with the last one landing on the roof of the stadium and at 114 metres was the longest of the tournament, bettering his own record of 109 metres that was hit off the previous delivery.

Morkel hit 19 runs off 6 balls before he was run out.

Chennai captain MS Dhoni hit a six and a four in his 22-ball 21 before he was stumped by Kumar Sangakkara off Pragyan Ojha.

Raina hit 2 sixes and 6 fours in his knock and added 58 runs with his captain MS Dhoni for the third wicket.

Raina was dismissed by Ojha who had him caught by Shikhar Dhawan at deep mid-wicket.

Hussey hit 46 before he was caught by Ishant Sharma at deep mid-wicket off Harmeet Singh as Chennai recovered after the early dismissal of Murali Vijay.

Hussey hit 5 fours in his knock and added 60 runs with Suresh Raina for the second wicket.

Chennai lost their first wicket in the fourth over when Vijay edged a Ojha delivery onto his stumps.

The breakthrough came after Dhoni won the toss and chose to bat.

Chennai have dropped Tim Southee and Nuwan Kulasekara and brought in Albie Morkel and Suraj Randiv.

Deccan have replaced Ravi Teja, Manpreet Gony and Dale Steyn with Harmeet Singh, Pragyan Ojha and JP Duminy.

Teams:

Chennai Super Kings: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Capt.), Murali Vijay, Michael Hussey, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Srikkanth Anirudha, Albie Morkel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Doug Bollinger, Shadab Jakati, Suraj Randiv.

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt.), Sunny Sohal, Shikhar Dhawan, Jean Paul Duminy, Cameron White, Daniel Christian, Bharat Chipli, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Harmeet Singh.

Source: Times of India

Ishant Sharma took five wickets in three overs as Deccan Chargers beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 55 runs in their IPL match at Nehru stadium in Kochi on Wednesday.

Chasing a victory target of 130 runs, Kochi were bundled out for 74 runs in 16.3 overs.

Ishant took five wickets in two overs to reduce Kochi to 11/6 in 4 overs.

Dale Steyn gave Deccan the first breakthrough when he had Brendon McCullum caught behind by Kumar Sangakkara on the fourth ball of the Kochi innings.

Ishant struck thrice in his first over. The tall pacer first had Parthiv Patel caught behind by Sangakkara and then clean bowled Raiphi Gomez and Brad Hodge.

Ishant struck again in his next over when he trapped Kedar Jadhav plumb in front of the wicket and five balls later had Kochi captain Mahela Jayawardene caught behind by Sangakkara to reduce the hosts to 11/6.

Kochi lost their seventh wicket when Manpreet Gony had Thissara Perera caught by Cameron White in the covers. Perera hit 4 fours in his 23-ball 22 and added 36 runs with Ravindra Jadeja.

Amit Mishra took his first wicket when he had Jadeja caught by Daniel Christian at deep mid-wicket.

Steyn took his second wicket when he clean bowled R Vinay Kumar to reduce Kochi to 74/9.

RP Singh edged the next Steyn delivery onto his stumps as Kochi were bundled out for 74.

Earlier, R Vinay Kumar took three wickets while RP Singh scalped two as Kochi Tuskers Kerala restricted Deccan Chargers to 129/7.

Kumar took his second wicket when he had Cameron White caught by captain Mahela Jayawardene at deep mid-wicket.

White hit a six and 2 fours in his 34-ball 31 and added 90 for the fourth wicket with his captain Kumar Sangakkara.

Kumar struck again on his next delivery when he had Sangakkara caught behind by Parthiv Patel off a slower ball. Sangakkara’s 47-ball 65 was studded with 10 fours.

The partnership between Sangakkara and White came after RP Singh dismissed Sunny Sohal and Shikhar Dhawan in his first two overs to dent the Deccan Chargers innings.

RP Singh trapped Sohal plumb in front of the wicket in the first over and in his next over Raiphi Gomez took a good catch running towards long-off from mid-off to dismiss Dhawan to place Deccan at 6/2.

Deccan lost their third wicket when R Vinay Kumar had Bharat Chipli caught by S Sreesanth at mid-off to reduce the visitors to 20/3.

The breakthroughs came after Kochi captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to bowl.

Kochi have brought in Brendon McCullum and S Sreesanth in place of Muthiah Muralitharan and VVS Laxman.

The Chargers have dropped Pragyan Ojha in favour of Manpreet Gony.

Teams:

Kochi Tuskers Kerala: Mahela Jayawardene (Capt.), Brendon McCullum, Ravindra Jadeja, Brad Hodge, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez, R Vinay Kumar, RP Singh, Thissara Perera, S Sreesanth.

Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (Capt.), Shikhar Dhawan, Sunny Sohal, Cameron White, Daniel Christian, Bharat Chipli, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Manpreet Gony, Ishant Sharma.

Source: Times of India

Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds scripted a fantastic recovery with a record fifth wicket partnership to lay the foundation for Mumbai Indians’ comfortably 37-run victory over Deccan Chargers in an IPL match on Sunday.

There couldn’t have been a better birthday gift than a MI win for Sachin Tendulkar who turned 38 on Sunday.

After posting a challenging total of 172 for four, MI restricted Chargers to 135 for eight as they now lead the points tally with 10 points from six outings.

Rohit (56 not out, 34 balls, 5×4, 3×6) and Symonds (44 not out, 33 balls, 4×4, 1×6) added 102 runs off only 65 balls for the unbroken fifth wicket after MI were tottering at 70 for four at the start of the 10th over. Incidentally, the duo played together for Chargers during the first three editions.

The duo thrashed Dale Steyn and Dan Christian for 16 and 24 runs respectively to score 40 off the last two overs. Christian went for 48 runs from his four wicketless overs.

While chasing, the Chargers lost wickets at regular intervals. The MI bowlers led by Lankan slinger Lasith Malinga (4-0-9-3) kept the batsmen under wraps. The bowlers were also backed by some nice fielding that saw a couple home team batsmen being run-out.

Save skipper Kumar Sangakkara (34) who was cleaned up by a low fulltoss from Malinga, the other batsmen lacked application. Malinga also got his trademark yorker going that castled Shikhar Dhawan (25).

Davy Jacobs (32, 20 balls, 5×4, 1×6) who was back in the squad opened with Tendulkar. It was Jacobs who started the initial onslaught as MI scored 47 runs in the first five overs before he was caught by Pragyan Ojha off Ishant Sharma’s bowling.

All eyes were on birthday boy Tendulkar. Tendulkar got the ‘Orange Cap’ back from Paul Valthaty and is now the highest run-getter in the ongoing IPL.

Cheered by daugher Sarah and son Arjun who were seen waving MI flags from stands, the legend hit a few crisp boundaries and again looked like making a substancial contribution.

But to their utter disappointment, the maestro scored only 28(24 balls, 4×4) before he was holed out in the deep by Steyn off Amit Mishra’s bowling.

Tendulkar charged out but failed to get to the pitch of a flighted delivery from Mishra as Steyn took a well judged catch at long-on.

Tendulkar’s dismissal triggered a collapse as MI from 70 for one slumped to 70 for four within a space of six deliveries.

Ambati Rayudu (7) who has had a good tournament so far played an ugly sweep shot off Mishra two balls later. Shikhar Dhawan stationed at deep square leg timed his jump to perfection send Rayudu back in the hut.

Kieron Pollard who has hardly batted in the tournament was promoted up the order but he tried a delicate paddle shot off Pragyan Ojha’s bowling and the ball lobbed up for skipper Sangakkara to take a simple catch.

Rohit and Symonds then started a repair job. They were cautious for a couple of overs before they started playing their strokes. Symonds’ first boundary was swatted shot off Christian over mid-off. Rohit also played some classy shots as they added 50 runs off only 45 deliveries.

Symonds showed his class in the penultimate over bowled by Steyn. He started with a crashing shot over extra cover for four. He followed it up with a six effortlessly hit over long on. Then he took a couple and followed it with another drive through the cover region.

If Symonds got 16 runs off the 19th over Rohit got 24 off the last.

Not the one to be left behind, Rohit smashed six off Christian over long-on brought the team’s 150. Two balls later he hit him over deep mid-wicket for another six and the next ball soared in to the deep square leg stands as Rohit completed his back-to-back fifty. He signed off with a straight drive which also brough the 100 run partnership for the duo.

Source: Times of India

A disciplined Deccan Chargers lifted themselves from near the basement of the IPL table to fourth place with an important win over fellow strugglers Delhi Daredevils on a slow-and-low track at Feroz Shah Kotla. Their stand-out performers were not the marquee names but unsung opener Sunny Sohal and medium-pacer Harmeet Singh, playing his first match of the season.

Sohal put on a powerful partnership with Kumar Sangakkara to seemingly set Deccan on their way to their highest total of the tournament, but Delhi shackled them in the second half of the innings to keep them to a more-manageable 168. Harmeet, however, removed two of Delhi’s three lethal hitters cheaply to swing the game in Deccan’s favour.

Deccan began brightly with a beautiful Sohal cover drive for four off the first ball, and Shikhar Dhawan belted two more boundaries in the over. Delhi hit back as Irfan Pathan had Dhawan chopping on, but that brought together Sangakkara and Sohal, who put together Deccan’s best passage of play in a 92-run stand.

Sangakkara was his usual elegant self, timing the ball wonderfully as he cut and drove the loose deliveries on offer. He was at his most punishing against the spinners, welcoming Shahbaz Nadeem’s left-arm spin with a six over midwicket, and two more leg-side boundaries. Yogesh Nagar, playing his first game of the season, was also taken for two extra cover boundaries. Both times Sangakkara teased Morne Morkel on the boundary, making him dive to his left, and then to his right; but both times the ball eluded the fielder.

Sohal also didn’t play a typical brute-force Twenty20 innings. His 62 was sprinkled with dabs to third man and clever glides past fine leg, besides some textbook drives. It was only once he reached his half-century that he brought out the big shots, smashing Morkel for a six near the sightscreen and then blasting him through the covers.

At 103 for 1 after 11 overs, even 200 was within Deccan’s sights. Ashok Dinda, though, had Sangakkara miscuing to cover, where he was taken by a back-pedalling Aaron Finch, and another smart catch from Finch sent back Sohal a couple of overs later. Though the big-hitters, Cameron White and Dan Christian, were at the crease, Deccan couldn’t maintain the pace. There were only three boundaries in the final six overs as Delhi squeezed the runs with some accurate bowling.

Delhi would have been satisfied at the halfway stage, and soon the home crowd was at its most vocal as Virender Sehwag unleashed three successive fours off the second over of Delhi’s chase. The strong start was undone by Harmeet, who removed Sehwag and Finch in his first two overs, with Christian nipping out Naman Ojha in between.

The Delhi innings was a stop-start affair, with bursts of big scoring sandwiching prolonged quiet spells. David Warner and Venugopal Rao muscled 30 runs off two overs to get to 71 for 3 after nine and revive Delhi hopes, but the return of Dale Steyn and the introduction of Amit Mishra choked the runs.

On a track providing turn, and where shot-making was becoming difficult, Venugopal fell to a superbly judged, leaping overhead catch by Christian at long-off, and Warner’s less-than-fluent innings ended with a slog to deep midwicket in the 15th over. Delhi’s slender hopes now rested on Irfan Pathan and James Hopes but neither could get going and despite Yogesh Nagar’s cameo, Deccan coasted to victory.

Siddarth Ravindran is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo