Saturday, April 16, 2011

Chargers finally breaks its home jinx

— PHOTO: a.k.shrma
 
DEADLY DALE: Dale Steyn, who bowled with pace and purpose to help Deccan Chargers score its first win of IPL-IV, celebrates one of his three strikes.
HYDERABAD: Buoyed by Bharat Chipli's unconquered 61 and backed by its hostile pace quartet, the Deccan Chargers shook off the shackles of superstition surrounding its home ground to record a 33-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi international stadium on Thursday.
The win, coming after three years, eight IPL and two Champions League matches, was as welcome as rain in the desert. Leading the charge for the home side was skipper Kumar Sangakkara, whose bag of five victims behind the stumps marked the highest tally ever in the IPL.
Eager to shed its tag of perennial loser, the Chargers could do virtually no wrong on this red-letter day. Some resistance came its way in the form of a 62-run partnership for the sixth wicket between Virat Kohli (71, 51b, 5x4, 3x6) and Cheteshwar Pujara. Challengers, however, had to contend with the fiery foursome of Dale Steyn (three for 24) and Manpreet Gony (three for 31), ably supported by Ishant Sharma and Daniel Christian.
Top order collapse
The top order collapse presented a problem of gigantic proportions, a situation from which the Challengers couldn't quite clamber back. At the second timeout, it was poised precariously at 108 for five, the unbroken sixth-wicket stand between Kohli and Pujara having just crossed the half-century mark.
Pujara perished shortly after, pouched by Daniel Christian at mid-off signalling the beginning of the end for the Bangalore squad. Runs came in a trickle thereafter, the boundaries few and far between.
After the Chargers was invited to bat, Shikhar Dhawan departed first, his miscued straight-drive off Zaheer Khan finding mid-on Vettori moving backward to hold on to the offering.
Sunny Sohal lived dangerously, Johan van der Wath's trimmers whizzing past the woodwork all too frequently. After those air shots, the Punjab batsman broke free, smacking Sreekanth Aravind over the covers and gliding him fine in the same over.
Sohal struck a six off Ryan Ninan but the off-spinner lured him to loft again, but straight to long-on Saurabh Tiwary.
Greater durability
The duo of Kumar Sangakkara and Bharat Chipli then showed greater durability at the crease, taking the total to three figures in the 14th over. As if to celebrate, Sangakkara smote compatriot Tillakaratne Dilshan into the sightscreen.
His end came when edging a van der Wath delivery moving away to stumper de Villiers. The home crowd then had much to cheer about, as Chipli hoisted Ninan into the stands twice and on the trot. The Karnataka batsman gave Zaheer the long handle too, sending him to the ropes thrice in the latter's third over.
J-P Duminy followed suit, smashing Vettori to long-off, where Ninan struggled with a chance but spilt it for a four.
At the other end, Chipli prospered, finding the ropes four times and sending the sphere over it thrice for his half-century, followed closely by the side's 150. The Shimoga native epitomised the Chargers' renewed zeal and longevity of its batting, his 46-minute essay embellished with five boundaries and three huge heaves.
SCOREBOARD
Deccan Chargers: S. Sohal c Tiwary b Ninan 38 (37b, 5x4, 1x6), S. Dhawan c Vettori b Zaheer 11 (9b, 2x4), K. Sangakkara c de Villiers b van der Wath 36 (25b, 3x4, 1x6), B. Chipli (not out) 61 (35b, 5x4, 3x6), J-P. Duminy c Kohli b Zaheer 22 (15b, 2x4, 1x6), D. Christian lbw b Zaheer 0 (1b); Extras (lb-2, w-3, nb-2): 7; Total (for five wkts. in 20 overs): 175.
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-70, 3-113, 4-168, 5-175.
Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Zaheer 4-0-32-3, van der Wath 4-0-30-1, Aravind 3-0-26-0, Vettori 4-0-29-0, Ninan 3-0-34-1, Dilshan 2-0-22-0.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: M. Agarwal c Mishra b Gony 16 (13b, 2x4), T. Dilshan c Sangakkara b Ishant 7 (8b, 1x4), Zaheer Khan b Steyn 0 (3b), V. Kohli b Gony 71 (51b, 5x4, 3x6), A.B. de Villiers c Sangakkara b Gony 0 (7b), S. Tiwary c Sangakkara b Mishra 7 (10b), C. Pujara c Christian b Steyn 25 (15b, 4x4), J. van der Wath c Sangakkara b Steyn 0 (1b), D. Vettori (not out) 3 (6b), R. Ninan c Sangakkara b Christian 3 (6b), S. Aravind (not out) 2 (3b); Extras (lb-3, w-2, nb-3): 8; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 142.
Fall of wickets: 1-8, 2-16, 3-27, 4-29, 5-56, 6-118, 7-118, 8-130, 9-137.
Deccan Chargers bowling: Steyn 4-0-24-3, Ishant 4-0-21-1, Gony 4-0-31-3, Christian 4-0-22-1, Mishra 4-0-41-1.
Man-of-the-match: Dale Steyn

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