Daily Cricket News

Resilient Deccan overcome Devil's challenge

New Delhi: A quickfire half-century by Sunny Sohal and an equally useful knock of 49 from captain Kumar Sangakkara helped Deccan Chargers register a 16-run victory over Delhi Daredevils in their Indian Premier League match here on Tuesday.

Opting to bat, Sohal (62, 41b, 8X4, 1X6) and Sangakkara (49, 35b, 8X4, 1X6) put on a 92-run stand for the second wicket to set a solid platform and post a competitive total of 168 for four, even though some disciplined bowling by the Daredevils at the end managed to put brakes on the Deccan scoring rate.

But ultimately the total proved to be too big for the hosts, who seemed hardly in the race, losing wickets at regular intervals here at the Ferozshah Kotla ground.

Even as David Warner (51, 48b 5x4 1x6) scored a valuable half-century and Yogesh Nagar (23, 11b 1x4 2x6) played a little cameo at the end but that was never going to be enough as the home team finished at 152 for seven in their allotted 20 overs.

For the Hyderabad outfit, Harmeet Singh (two for 27) and Daniel Christian (two for 38) provided important breakthroughs while Ojha, Amit Mishra and Shikhar Dhwan chipped in with a wicket apiece.

Chasing a target of 169, Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag came out firing all cylinders in his bid to give his team a positive start as he struck four boundaries off Christian's over, while Warner also gave him good company at the other end but the former's stay at the wicket was cut short by Harmeet Singh for a seven-ball 12.

And the next two overs saw the hosts being pushed on to the back foot when Christian and Harmeet accounted for the wickets of Naman Ojha and Aaron Finch to leave the Daredevils reeling at 38 for three.

While Christian trapped Ojha (2) leg before, Harmeet dismissed Finch for a nought as he edged one to Sangakkara.

It was then up to Warner and Venugopal Rao (21) to consolidate the innings and the duo managed to take the team to 78 for three after 10 overs.

But after putting on 52 runs for the fourth wicket with Warner, Rao, while trying to hit a six hit one straight down Christian's throat off Amit Mishra's bowling.

At the other end, although Warner managed to hold his ground but just after completing his half-century, he gave a simple catch to Ravi Teja off part-time spinner Shikhar Dhawan's bowling, after being dropped in the previous over.

Irfan Pathan's horrible IPL continued as he was quickly back in the dressing room, leaving the Daredevils with an uphill task.