By Suneer Chowdhary
Pune Warriors India notched up their second win in a row and fourth overall as they steamrolled over the listless Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad. Sourav Ganguly was one of the talking points of the game as he guided the side through a tricky position to help win the game.
Published: May 10, 2011, 07:36 PM (IST)
Edited: May 10, 2011, 07:36 PM (IST)
Pune Warriors batsman Manish Pandey in action during their IPL match against Deccan Chargers © AFP
By Suneer Chowdhary
Hyderabad: May 10, 2011
Pune Warriors India notched up their second win in a row and fourth overall as they steamrolled over the listless Deccan Chargers at Hyderabad. Sourav Ganguly was one of the talking points of the game as he guided the side through a tricky position to help win the game.
Chasing 137 for a win, the Pune Warriors India were provided a quick start by Jesse Ryder. After three dot balls in the first over from Dale Steyn, Ryder sandwiched a six between two fours to get racing towards the target.
Ishant Sharma wasn’t spared either in the second over. Off the first ball to Ryder, the batsman attempted to hit him through the infield but failed. However, the next two deliveries were swatted away with a disdain associated with facing a club-level bowler.
Pragyan Ojha’s opening over cost him six but that was probably because Ryder faced only one delivery but the Kiwi was at it again when he pulled JP Duminy in the fourth over for a six.
Pune Warriors ended the Powerplay overs on 52 without loss but lost Ryder soon after for a 20-ball 35. The cameo was ended off a slower one from Pragyan Ojha that slipped through to the stumps.
Sourav Ganguly walked out to a rapturous applause on his IPL-debut for his new franchise, his job undoubtedly eased out by the quick opening stand. However, it was the other opening batsman, Manish Pandey, who took control at this stage.
Duminy, reintroduced into the attack was taken to the cleaners. A short ball was pulled to the mid-wicket fence, another went for a six over square-leg while the third short ball of the over was pulled into the same area for a boundary.
He continued in the same vein, hitting a six off Amit Mishra, but only a run short of his first IPL half-century this season, he was sent back by the leggie, lbw.
Robin Uthappa (1) was a victim of a poor caught-behind decision but by that time, the Pune Warriors had taken entire control of the game.
With the asking rate below six and Ganguly having seen through five deliveries for a single, the former Indian captain slashed Ishant over the off-side to bring his first boundary. Despite the two wickets falling at the other end, he took Mishra on and smacked him over the square-leg for a six before inside-edging and squeezing a boundary in each of the next two overs.
Dan Christian did have Yuvraj Singh bowled off an inside-edge but a couple of boundaries from Callum Ferguson sealed the game in Pune’s favour. Ganguly remained unbeaten on 32.
Earlier, the Deccan Chargers struggled in the second half of the innings by getting only 64 runs in it. Comfortably poised at one stage at 56 for one in the eighth over, they fell away in the middle of the innings thanks to an eight over spell from Yuvraj Singh and Rahul Sharma, whose eight overs cost them only 41 runs.
The pair shared three wickets between them as the Chargers ended at 136 for eight in 20 overs.
Deccan Chargers started off well as the pair of Shikhar Dhawan and DB Ravi Teja added 51 for the first wicket in less than seven overs. Dhawan, who has shown the propensity to throw away good starts did it again as he looked to hoick Yuvraj Singh out of the attack. The result was a simple catch inside the circle.
Ravi Teja followed soon after for 30 and the rest of the side, with the exception of JP Duminy did not cross 18. Even Duminy, who made 30, got out at the most inopportune of times. It was the start of the 19th over when he hit Mitchell Marsh straight to the long-on fielder.
Duminy’s dismissal triggered a collapse as Pune lost two more in the same over to finish way below what would have been a challenging target for the Pune Warriors.
Both sides made one change to their line-up. Ishan Malhotra, who had been sent packing in the only over he bowled in previous game by the Delhi Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag, was replaced by Ojha. Ganguly made his much-awaited debut for the Pune Warriors in place of Abhishek Jhunjhunwala.
Brief Scores: DC 136 for 8 in 20 overs (JP Duminy 30, B Ravi Teja 30; Mitchell Marsh 4 for 25, Yuvraj Singh 2 for 17) lost to PWI 137 for 4 in 18.2 overs (Manish Pandey 49, Jesse Ryder 35, Sourav Ganguly 32*; Daniel Christian 2 for 21, Pragyan Ojha 1 for 13, Amit Mishra 1 for 26) by 6 wickets.
Man of the Match: Mitchell Marsh
(Suneer is a Mumbai-based cricket writer and can be contacted at suneerchowdhary@gmail.com and Tweets here @suneerchowdhary)
