Deccan escapes to victory

Irfan Pathan produced a scorcher of an innings to almost take Kings XI Punjab to an improbable win over Deccan who had scored 170 for 7 off their allotted overs. But like his older brother Yusuf against Mumbai earlier in the series, ended up on the losing side.

Jaskaran Singh was given the opportunity to bowl the last over for Deccan with 19 needed and three KXIP wickets in hand. The youngster stepped up and justified Gilchrist’s faith taking Pathan Jr’s wicket off the first ball ending the Kings XI Punjab resistance. Deccan Chargers defeated Kings XI Punjab by six runs.

KXIP and everybody watching the match had written off the Punjab team with the score reading 104 for 7 in the 17th over. But Irfan had other plans for the night.

Irfan seemed to have taken a page out of Yusuf Pathan’s diary and set about demolishing the Deccan attack. Like a man on a mission, Irfan massacred the opposition to score 60 (3x4, 5x6) from 29 balls at an incredible average of 206.89. The junior Pathan hit some huge sixes including one off R P Singh in the 17th over that went over 105 metres.

Sadly for Kings XI Punjab, Irfan couldn’t complete his task and fell at the final hurdle.

Opener Ravi Bopara with 38 runs and Mahela Jayawardene with 14 runs were the only two other Kings XI Punjab batsmen to get into double figures. Kumar Sangakkara and Yuvraj Singh again failed to get going and the task was too much for the others to handle. West Indian debutant Adrian Barath couldn’t adjust to the new playing conditions and perished quickly.

Chaminda Vaas was his usual efficient self taking two wickets for 27 runs. Symonds’ good day at the office continued with the all-rounder taking one wicket and also contributing in the field with a couple of catches. He deservedly was named the Man-of-the-Match.

The Chargers would consider themselves lucky to lose the toss and be put in to bat. On a wicket which neither of the teams was familiar with, Adam Gilchrist came out like a man possessed. The DC skipper hit a whirlwind 33 (12b, 4x4, 2x6), before giving Shalabh Srivastava the biggest wicket of his life. Gilchrist, who has been the mainstay of the Chargers this season, was so dominant that the Chargers were 43 in the third over when his wicket fell.

The Kings XI Punjab team appeared to be in the game for a brief while when their lynchpin Yuvraj Singh turned his arm over and claimed the two vital wickets of Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds. The Chargers had crossed the 100 mark in the 10th over, before they were pegged back by the Punjab spinners. But the Punjab team was leaking runs from the other side. Sreesanth was the main culprit, giving away 51 runs from his four overs.

The unfortunate incident of VVS Laxman retiring hurt after being hit on the wrist by the return throw saw Andrew Symonds’ arrival at the crease. Symonds hit three huge sixes in his half-century, including one off Sreesanth that went way over long on.

Herschelle Gibbs, T Suman and Vaas also played cameo innings that helped Deccan Chargers put up a defendable score of 170.

With this win, Deccan Chargers have four points in the tournament and will go over the Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders in the points table. Kings XI Punjab are still giving company to Rajasthan Royals at the bottom of the table having failed to open their account in this edition of IPL.