Deccan an inch above Delhi

Deccan Chargers made it two in two at their new home as they beat Delhi Daredevils in a closely fought match. DC beat DD by 10 runs in a last over finish.

Sunday started on the wrong note for debutant Monish Mishra of Deccan Chargers as he got bowled by an Amit Mishra googly. The match had two R Sharmas playing for DC today, Rohit - the batsman and Rahul – the bowler and two Mishras – Amit Mishra - the leggie for Delhi and Monish Mishra - the opening batsman for DC.

DC had quite a few batsmen who got starts but none got going as they lost wickets after every few overs, yet managing to reach a healthy 171 for the loss of six wickets. Top-scorer Rohit Sharma gave the innings an impetus with a 30-ball 45 playing his first significant knock of the tournament. Earlier Herschelle Gibbs and Andrew Symonds struck together a small but important partnership after losing Gilchrist during the Power play. T Suman’s 29 off 19 too was an important contribution.

The innings for Delhi started unusually, as for a change it was David Warner who shocked the batsmen with attacking stroke-play. Warner stole the limelight from Sehwag as he got stuck into RP Singh scoring 20 runs off his first over and the innings’ second. It seemed Sehwag did not like this as he soon got out having faced seven balls for his three before getting out to Ojha.

Warner continued with a fine half-century keeping DD in the hunt. They were very much in the game when AB de Villiers and Warner were at it. After they lost de Villiers at 98, it was left to captain Dinesh Karthik to steer the team home. Karthik fought hard for a well compiled 46 of 27 with a couple of sixes but it was not enough as he got out at the wrong time with his team still needing 16 runs off 10 balls. Symonds should come in for a special praise as he bowled an excellent 17th and 19th over dismissing Karthik and Mishra off consecutive balls almost sealing a victory for his team. Purple Cap holder Chaminda Vaas showed signs of brilliance as he kept the batsmen under check with a fabulous last over picking one wicket and getting a great direct hit off his own bowling, restricting the batsmen to just 3 runs. Delhi just could not cross the last hurdle – there were run-outs, wickets falling and continuous misunderstandings in the last over.