Deccan end Pune's play-off hopes

Deccan Chargers ended Pune Warriors' slim hopes of qualifying for the play-offs with a comfortable six-wicket victory in an Indian Premier League match in Navi Mumbai on Monday.

- Scorecard

Asking the home team to bat, the Chargers first restricted Warriors to a modest 136 for nine and then raced to 138 in 19.2 overs with six wickets in hand at the D Y Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai.

Shikhar Dhawan (28) and Sunny Sohal (34) laid the perfect platform for the run chase with a 67-run opening stand.

The duo departed within eight balls of each other but skipper Kumar Sangakkara (25), JP Duminy (23) and Daniel Christian (14 not out) took the Hyderabad outfit past the 136-run target.

The victory ended Warriors wafer-thin hopes of advancing to the play-offs and also avenged the loss to the same opponents six days ago, besides lifting the Chargers points tally to 10 with a game in hand.

Warriors, who had a very slim chance of going through to the play-offs going into the match, have gone out of reckoning following their eighth loss in 12 games. They have only eight points in their kitty with two games remaining.

Earlier, Pune Warriors put up a listless batting display, losing three wickets in seven balls midway, to be restricted to a meagre modest 136 for nine by Chargers.

Put in to bat, the Warriors started on a promising note with a 31-run opening partnership between Manish Pandey (23) and Jesse Ryder (13) before suffering a dramatic slide.

The sudden slump, which started off the last ball of the fourth over continued till the fifth ball of the seventh, saw the Warriors losing five wickets for 14 runs, three of them at the same score of 45.

Leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who has returned to the Indian team for the tour of the West Indies, accounted for two wickets in as many balls in his first over, after Dale Steyn, Dan Christian and Pragyan Ojha took the first three wickets.

Skipper Yuvraj Singh (23) kept the innings going, but he too departed after getting a good start in the 15th over, leaving the Warriors at an unimpressive 92 for seven.

Mitchell Marsh, who top-scored with a quick-fire 37 in 28 balls with three sixes and a four, helped the Warriors add 35 runs in the company of Wayne Parnell to give the total a more healthy look.

Mishra picked up two wickets for 26 while Christian and Ojha too claimed two wickets apiece giving away 13 and 35 runs respectively.

Pandey was the first of the trio of batsmen to depart in the space of seven balls when he leaned back and chopped left-arm spinner Ojha on to his stumps. He hit three fours and a six.

Sangakkara introduced Mishra in the eighth over and the soon after he was given the ball the leggie packed off Robin Uthappa and Mithun Manhas, for a first ball duck, to be on a hat-trick that was prevented by Callum Ferguson.

Uthappa tried to flick and gave an easy return catch while Manhas was foxed by a googly which he failed to read and was clean bowled to leave the Warriors at a sorry-looking 45 for five.

Warriors captain Yuvraj Singh added 28 runs with Ferguson to put the innings back on track.

But Duminy spelt Ferguson's doom as he hit a tame return catch to the bowler to depart at team score 73.

Yuvraj kept the scoreboard moving by slog-sweeping Ojha for a six and then sweeping Duminy for a four. But he too fell in trying to up the tempo, top edging a Christian delivery to Sangakkara behind the stumps. His knock contained a six and three fours.

Marsh, who hoisted Christian for a six over mid-wicket and Mishra straight over the head for another, pushed the score past 100 in Wayne Parnell's company.

Marsh then hit Ojha for his third six before departing bowled by the slow bowler off the second ball of the last over while Parnell, who made 16 in 15 balls with a six to boot, was run out off the last ball.