A Send Win For The Deccan Chargers By Hitting PWI

For the second time, and against the same opponents, everything fell in place for Deccan Chargers. The Hyderabad side bested Pune Warriors by 13 runs to gain their second win of IPL-V, indicating that a team on the verge of elimination can still throw a spanner in the works of other, relatively higher placed, outfits.

The victory was set up by a massive 157-run third-wicket partnership between skipper Kumar Sangakkara (82) and Cameron White (74), after the former elected to bat. The highest alliance of IPL-V took the designated ‘home’ team to 186-4 in 20 overs, after they had lost both openers within the Powerplay, as the last 14 overs yielded runs at almost 11-an-over.

Pune made a disastrous start to the chase, losing Manish Pandey on the first ball, but Sourav Ganguly and IPL debutant Michael Clarke (replacing Jesse Ryder in the eleven) propelled their team with intent. Ganguly, who was dropped when he had scored one, and Clarke added 90 at a moderate pace to raise visions of a thrilling finish, but both were out within six runs of each other to dissipate the momentum.

It warrants a mention here that Clarke, straight off the boat – in a manner of speaking – tore into Dale Steyn, creaming boundaries behind point, over square-leg and again wide of point, as the South African screwed up his radar big time.

Clarke was dropped, but was run out on the same ball going for a second run. Ganguly was caught at cover trying to force one through the off-side, and although Steve Smith (47 n.o.) and Robin Uthappa (26) went hell for leather, Pune still fell short of the target.

Earlier, it was a Sangakkara-White show all the way. The two got together in the fifth over and went on a unmoderated rampage until the 19th. They began with caution, picking the loose balls and keeping the scorer busy, as they took the tally to 91 in 14 overs. And then began the battering.

The next six overs brought Deccan 95 runs, a run rate of almost 16. Sangakkara, after reaching his fifty in 38 balls, moved into top gear, lashing out six fours in a nine-ball phase against Marlon Samuels and Wayne Parnell.

White too reached his half-century in 38 balls and then waded into Ganguly, sticking it in the Pune skipper in the 18th over for a deadly sequence of 6, 6, 6, 4. The last-gasp offensive hit Pune where it hurt, eventually costing them a win that would have taken them to third in the points table.