Deccan Chargers snapped their seven-match losing streak at their home ground with a 33 run crushing of Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match on Thursday.
Bharat Chipli first helped Deccan set up a big total of 175 for five with a blistering unbeaten 61 after being put into bat before the home side restricted RCB to 142 for nine to break the jinx of not winning any of their seven previous matches at
Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal.
This was also Deccan's first win this season after losing their first two matches.
Deccan bowlers complemented the superb show by their batsmen with pacers Dale Steyn and Manpreet Gony taking three
wickets each by conceding 24 and 31 runs respectively. Ishant Sharma, Daniel Christian and Amit Mishra chipped in with one wicket apiece.
RCB, who lost to Mumbai Indians in their last match after starting their campaign on a winning note, suffered early jolt by losing four wickets inside seven overs and they could never recover from there.
Virat Kohli fought a lone battle with a superb 51-ball 71 which was studded with five fours and three sixes but he did not get support from his other RCB colleagues.
Chasing a stiff target of 176, RCB had just one substantial partnership -- 54 from 5.4 overs for the sixth wicket between Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara.
Steyn and Ishant did the early damage to RCB with swing and bounce. Ishant got success in his first over and the second of
the innings by removing dangerous Tillakaratne Dilshan for just seven, caught behind by Deccan captain and wicketkeeper
Kumar Sangakkara.
RCB sent in Zaheer Khan as one-down but the team-management's ploy to use him as pinch hitter failed as he was out for nought after facing three balls with a Steyn full toss crashing at the wickets. RCB were 16 for two in the third over.
Sangakkara brought in Gony in place of Steyn in the fifth over and Deccan got immediate success in the form of the wicket of opener Mayank Agrawal.
Agarwal holed out to Amit Mishra at mid-on while trying to play a big shot as RCB found themselves in trouble at 27
for three in the fifth over.
Gony added another wicket to his kitty by dismissing key man AB de Villiers for a seven-ball duck in the seventh over
as RCB slumped to 29 for four and deep trouble. Asking rate shot up to 12 an over by the 10th over at the end of which RCB could crore just 53 for four.
Saurabh Tiwary (7), who was bought for a huge sum in the auction, disappointed once again as he top-edged a Mishra
delivery while trying for a big shot to bring down the asking rate for Sangakkara to take an easy catch.
And when Gony cleaned up Kohli in the 18th over, it was all over.
Earlier, Bharat Chipli smashed a blistering unbeaten half century as Deccan Chargers produced a solid batting display to post 175 for five.
It was Deccan Chargers' best batting display thus far, with Chipli coming up with a strokeful 35-ball 61 not out, which included five fours and three sixes, after his side was put in to bat at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium at Uppal.
- Indian Premier League 2011 coverage
Captain Kumar Sangakkara and opener Sunny Sohal chipped in with 36 and 38 runs respectively.
For RCB, Zaheer Khan was the most successful bowler, claiming three for 32 runs.
The home side, which lost their first two matches, made a decent start, posting 50 by the seventh over and were 73 for two at the halfway mark before exploding in the last five overs with 61 runs for two wickets.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan (11) could not contribute much, falling in the third over to India pace spearhead Zaheer as he mistimed a shot to RCB captain Daniel Vettori at mid-on.
The other opener, Sohal, and Sangakkara took the fight to the opposition bowlers, stitching 50 runs for the second wicket from 6.1 overs, before the former fell in the ninth over to a Ryan Ninan delivery. Deccan were 70 for two.
Next man in Chipli delighted the home crowd with a flurry of big shots, including a huge six off Tillakaratne Dilshan.
Sangakkara joined in a brief run fest with a six off his Sri Lankan team-mate before he was out in the 15th over.
Chipli and Sangakkara shared 43 runs in 5.4 overs to take Deccan to 114 for three at the end of 15.
Deccan took 16 runs from the 16th over, bowled by Ninan, with Chipli hitting two consecutive sixes.
Chipli then smashed three successive fours off Zaheer as Deccan got 15 runs from the 17th over.
Birthday boy JP Duminy then joined the party with a six off Vettori.
Deccan lost two wickets in the final over, bowled by Zaheer -- that of Duminy (22) and Daniel Christian (0) but Chipli ensured that his side reached the 175 mark.
© 2024 Rediff.com -