Chargers lose a thriller to Punjab

If the game on the previous day between the Deccan Chargers and the Kolkata Knight Riders wasn’t enough, the Chargers came up with another match that went right down to the wire, but unlike yesterday, they ended on the losing side. In the process, it is still not sure which three teams will finally make it to the knock-out stage.

Batting first, the Kings XI Punjab were in early trouble, as their top order failed to produce the magic that Shaun Marsh in the previous season and Ravindra Bopara, this time around, had managed to and were soon 26/3 in the fifth over. While R.P.Singh captured one wicket and equalled the purple-cap holder, the medium-pacer Andrew Symonds got rid of Simon Katich. Luke Pomersbach was run-out due to a mix-up with his partner, Katich.
The rebuilding process started with Yuvraj Singh and Kumar Sangakkara together, as the pitch looked a little slow coming on to the bat. Yuvraj Singh tonked a six off Symonds, and then Rohit Sharma was greeted with a boundary, but the scoring was generally not very rapid.

It was the introduction of a part-time bowler in Venugopal Rao that saw Yuvi getting bowled to leave the Punjab team at 55/4 at the strategic break.
The going remained slow after the break as well, till Sharma was re-introduced and smashed for two boundaries in the 15th over – that went for 16 runs. Ryan Harris was then smashed for a six over mid-wicket, and he soon brought up his fifty off a superb pull shot. All of a sudden, the score was 116/5 in 17 overs, and another big over could have got them t 140 plus.

Instead R.P.Singh scalped two more wickets – including the well set Sangakkara – and the team was restricted to 134/7, with RP getting three wickets and the sole owner of the purple cap.

The Chargers had a reasonable start with 34 added for the first wicket in less than five overs, but they lost their way in the middle overs. Ramesh Powar capture two wickets off two deliveries, where as post the strategy break, Yuvraj Singh bagged another hat-trick – his second of this tournament – to peg the Chargers back to 79/5 and in big trouble.

At this stage, 56 runs were needed off 40 deliveries, but with only Rohit Sharma as their recognised batsman left, it looked a trifle difficult.

Piyush Chawla dropped a difficult caught-and-bowled chance, but a couple of real tight overs saw the asking rate escalate up to 14 runs per over, with three overs to go!

For some reason that cannot be fathomed, Yuvraj Singh introduced Wilkin Mota into the attack to bowl his first over, and Sharma immediately took a fond liking for him. There were a couple of full-tosses that were hit over the mid-wicket fence, while another went for four to reduce the target to slightly manageable proportions; 25 needed in 12.

Brett Lee bowled a superb first four deliveries, that saw a wicket fall down too, but the fifth went for a six and then there was a no-ball bowled which was hit to the fence as well. 11 runs were need in the last over which was bowled by Irfan Pathan, and the first couple deliveries had seven taken off it – including a wide – that had them need 4 runs in 4 balls. From here, the Chargers should have won the match, but Sharma played an ugly swipe that got him bowled, while R.P.Singh wasted a delivery and was dismissed off the next to leave the new batsman with a total of four to make off the final delivery.

Harris connected but could only run two, as the Punjab team was victors by a solitary run! Yuvraj Singh was the man-of-the-match for his hat-trick!