Team Orisports 22-Apr-2012 159
The winning run of Deccan Chargers Hyderabad here at Barabati Stadium, one of their three home venues, ended tonight when they lost to Kolkata Knight Riders by five-wickets in a low-scoring IPL match. Chasing a modest target of 127, Gautam Gambhir’s Knight Riders faced a stiff fight before romping home with one over to spare. Skipper Gambhir and Manjo Tiwary played major roles in the successful chase, contribution 30 runs each.
This was the fourth win for the Knight Riders and they joined four others at the top of the table with eight points in their kitty. On the other hand, Deccan Chargers suffered their fifth defeat in a row.
Poor fielding once again led to the defeat of the Deccan Chargers as they dropped one catch at crucial juncture and gave away at least 15 unnecessary runs due to misfielding. Though the match was delayed little more than an hour due to rain, no over was deducted from the quota. But the slowness of the pitch made batting a difficult job for both the sides. The presence of Knight Riders’ owner Shahrukh Khan, performance of cheer girls, fireworks and music provided very good entertainment for crowd of over 30,000 spectators.
Put into bat, Deccan Chargers rode on a run-a-ball 50 by opener by Sikhar Dhawan to compile a modest total of 126 for seven. Along with skipper Kumar Sangakkara, Dhawan gave Chargers an inspiring start, putting on 30 runs in the first four overs. But after a good start, Deccan Chargers lost the momentum, losing wickets in regular intervals. Sangakkara’s poor form continued as he stepped out to a full-length delivery off Laxmipathy Balaji, but missed the line and found his middle stump uprooted.
Parthiv Patel, though consolidated the innings to some extent by stitching together 44 runs for the second wicket with Dhawan. But the stumper’s exit _ he was run out for 23 _ signaled the start of the slide, which never ended. After racing to his 40, Dhawan got stuck and eventually lost his wicket, mistiming full toss off Rajat Bhatia. Though lot of was expected from the blades of Cameron White, who replaced Daniel Christian, and Jean-Paul Duminy, they failed.
On the other hand, Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers put up impressive performance in the second half of the innings to restrict the opposition to a below-par total. Aussie speedster Brett Lee was outstanding among them, conceding only four runs in his last two overs. He won the man of the match prize of Rs 1 lakh.
Barabati Stadium, considered as a lucky venue for Deccan Chargers, could not save them from defeat. They had won both their matches here in 2010. But the crowd felt a bit disappointed as Odisha and Deccan Chargers all-rounder Biplab Samantray did not get a chance to make his IPL debut.
BRIEF SCORE: Deccan Chargers 126/7 in 20 overs (Shikhar Dhawan 50, Parthiv Patel 23; L Balaji 2/22, Sunil Narine 2/26, Brett Lee 1/15, Rajat Bhatia 1/26) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 127/5 in 19 overs (Manoj Tiwary 30 n.o, Gautam Gambhir 30, Jacques Kallis 23; Dale Steyn 2/24, Anand Rajan 1/11, Amit Mishra 1/27) by 5 wkts.
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TOP: Brett Lee takes the man of the match prize after the IPL match in Cuttack on April 22, 2012.
