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Mishra hat-trick trips Chargers
15/05/2008 20:43 - (SA)
Delhi - A fine display of leg spin bowling by Amit Mishra, including a hat-trick, derailed the Deccan Chargers' attempt to overhaul a massive total of 194/4 set by the Delhi Daredevils in their IPL match on Thursday evening.
Deccan eventually lost the match by 12 runs.
Mishra impressed with the ball through out the innings and he held his nerve admirably as he bowled the last over with Deccan still in with a shout. His hat-trick in the selfsame over effectively snuffed out Deccan's challenge and he finished the match with excellent figures of five for 17 off three and a half overs.
In the end Deccan's total of 182/9 fell just short of what was needed but their lack of success with the bat was not through lack of effort.
Herschelle Gibbs and Shahid Afridi, two batsmen who had hitherto endured a miserable tournament with the bat, shrugged off their poor form to take the attack to the Delhi bowlers and for a while things looked promising for Deccan.
Afridi, in particular, set about the batting like a man possessed but he chanced his arm once to often and was caught after slicing a delivery from Amit Mishra to point. In the end Afridi scored 33 off only 14 balls with three fours and two sixes.
The introduction of Delhi's spinners, who took the pace off the ball, helped to slow Deccan's run chase and Gibbs soon followed Afridi back to the pavilion after he was stumped off the bowling of Mishra, Gibbs falling for 22.
Getting his eye in
Rohit Sharma then tried his best to add some respectability to the Chargers' score and after getting his eye in began to open his shoulders. He was particularly severe on Rajat Bhatia, taking 19 runs off of one over. However, he was deceived by a slower ball from Farveez Maharoof and departed the scene for a well played 35 off 17 balls.
A late onslaught by Venugopal Rao offered some hope to the visitors but when he departed for a fine 34 off 18 balls it spelt the end of Deccan's charge.
Earlier a massive partnership of 133 runs between Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan had helped the Delhi Daredevils post a formidable total of 194/4
After being put into bat by Deccan, Delhi got off to a relatively slow start, losing the wicket of their captain Virender Sehwag early.
They were frustrated by some good bowling from Vijaykumar, who finished with figures of 4-0-24-1 but Gambhir, who was joined at the wicket by Dhawan after Sehwag's departure, soon changed the complexion of the match.
From the moment Gambhir hit the third ball he faced for four, he looked in control. He played a number of memorable strokes, none more so than a front foot pull shot for six off RP Singh.
Gambhir reached his fifty off only 34 balls but he wasn't content to simply rest on his laurels and he continued to plunder runs off all the Deccan bowlers before being stumped, down the leg side, off the bowling of Pragyan Ojha. Gambhir's final contribution being 79 runs off 48 balls with seven fours and three sixes.
Initially, Dhawan was content to play a supporting role to Gambhir but he soon blossomed and his innings of 68 not out with eight fours was an excellent display of controlled cricket.
For Deccan, Ojha picked up two wickets at important stages in the match.
Scores: Delhi Daredevils 194/4 (G Gambhir 79, S Dhawan 68 not out)
Deccan Chargers 182/9 (R Sharma 35, A Mishra 5-17)
TEAMS:
Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag (captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Dinesh Karthik, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Manoj Tiwary, Rajat Bhatia, Amit Mishra, Farveez Maharoof, Mohammad Asif, Glenn McGrath
Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Venugopal Rao, Rohit Sharma, Ravi Teja, Scott Styris, Shahid Afridi, Sarvesh Kumar, Pragyan Ojha, RP Singh, P Vijaykumar.
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Rugby
