Deccan set Kochi 130 for victory
By Suneer Chowdhary
Kochi: Apr 27, 2011
It was the case of two different halves of ten overs for the Chargers; the first in which the runs came in such a trickle that the side broke the record for the least number of runs in the first ten overs and second, where the recovery was proficient.
In the end, the side struggled to 129 for seven in their 20 overs against the Tuskers at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi, but whether it was enough to win the game remains to be seen.
The Kochi Tuskers captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and decided to field first, a decision probably born out of the chances of getting the ball to nip around early and restricting the opponents.
Brendon McCullum and S Sreesanth were back into the side, replacing the pair of VVS Laxman and Muthiah Muralitharan in the side. The Chargers made one change to their side, as they got in Manpreet Gony in place of Pragyan Ojha. The ball swung from very early on but what was surprising to see was that it did not disappear after the first couple of overs.
RP Singh had Sunny Sohal dismissed in the very first over when the ball jagged back into the batsman and the umpire had no hesitation in lifting the finger. Following Sohal into the pavilion was Shikhar Dhawan, who could only manage to lift the ball to the backpedalling Raiphi Gomez at mid-on. RP Singh was the bowler again.
There were two moments of indiscretions that followed then; Bharat Chipli was dropped by Brendon McCullum while Sangakkara was bowled off a superbly bowled inswinger from Sreesanth, but it was deemed to be a no-ball.
While Chipli did not last too much longer, a leading edge going to mid-off off Vinay Kumar, it was Sangakkara who made the Tuskers pay.
The Chargers ended the Powerplay overs at 20 for three and by the time the tenth over had elapsed, the visitors had crept up to 37 for three and looked in troubled waters.
It was in the 11th over – the second from Thisara Perera – that the Chargers cut loose. A short ball was pulled with utter disdain to the fence by the captain while the out-of-form White also got a boundary off a mistimed pull.
Sangakkara took on Vinay Kumar in the next over, getting a couple to the fence, before White clobbered a six in Ravindra Jadeja’s first over. Perera’s night went worse when his country-mate Sangakkara slashed him for a couple to the fence before sweeping Jadeja to the fence and getting his 50.
Sagakkara’s 50 had come off 39 balls and interestingly, the Chargers had only got to 89 by then in the 15th over.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, it was the loss of both these set batsmen, Sangakkara and White off successive balls that pulled their acceleration back.
The lower-order failed to get the traction that the pair could have got and in the end, the Chargers were restricted to 129 for seven in their 20 overs.
Brief Scores: DC 129 for 7 in 20 overs (Kumar Sangakkara 65, Cameron White 31; Vinay Kumar 3 for 25, RP Singh 2 for 21) vs KTK.
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