CUTTACK 19-Mar-2010 125
Barabati Stadium, the adopted home venue of Deccan Chargers, proved lucky as the defending champions beat Kings XI Punjab by six runs to register their second win in three matches of the Indian Premier League here tonight. The Hyderabad franchisee also broke a jinx in the process, posting their first win in five head-to-head encounters against the Punjab outfit in the history of IPL.
The victory was the result of a fine team effort. Skipper Adam Gilchrist’s 12-ball 33, Andrew Symond’s 37-ball 53 helped Deccans compile a competitive total of 170 for seven. In reply, Kings XI Punjab were restricted to 164 for eight after being reduced to 68 for six. This was the third successive defeat for Sangakkara and his struggling mates and they now languish at the bottom of the table without a single point.
Put into bat, Deccan Chargers were off to a flying start thanks to Gilchrist’s electrifying knock. Symonds then added 56 runs for the second wicket with Herschelle Gibbs (23) to consolidate the innings. T Suman’s 22-ball 26 also came handy. But Deccan Chargers, however, failed to score as well in the last 10 overs as they did in the first 10, which produced 100 runs. Kings XI made a good comeback thanks to a superb spell of spin bowling by Yuvraj Singh, who not only tied down the batsmen but also climed the crucial wickets of Gibbs and Symonds.
But Kings XI’s hope for their first win was dashed by Chaminda Vaas, who broke the backbone of the opposition innings, claiming the vital wickets of captain Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh cheaply. Irfan Pathan’s valiant 29-ball 60, which included three fours and five sixes was the only purple patch of the Kings XI innings. Ravi Bopara maintained his consistency with a 32-ball 38. All the six Deccan Chargers bowlers picked up a wicket or two.
