Chargers beat Warriors by 13 runs
CUTTACK: Deccan Chargers beat Pune Warriors by 13 runs to record their second victory in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Barabati stadium here Tuesday.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara and Cameron White strung together a 157-run stand to propel the Chargers to 186 for four. In reply Pune could manage only 173 for five.
Sangakkara -- who wasn't exactly in his element-- roared back into form with a brilliant 82 off 52 balls studded with 10 boundaries and two sixes.
His partnership of 157 for the third wicket with Cameron White (74; 45b, 4x4 4x6) which is incidentally highest 3rd wicket stand in the history of IPL, ensured that home team put on a massive total.
Having managed only 91 in 14 overs, Sangakkara and White bludgeoned Pune bowlers to score 95 runs in the last six overs.
The key was 18th and 19th over where Sangakkara and White took 25 runs each to consolidate. It was 40-year-old Pune skipper Sourav Ganguly who was clobbered for 25 runs and it changed the complexion of the innings.
Opting to bat after winning the toss, Deccan Chargers did not have a good beginning to their innings as Marlon Samuels accounted for Parthiv Patel's wicket with the very first ball of the match.
Wayne Parnell then followed it up with a maiden over to give the visitors an ideal start.
Things got even worse for the hosts when Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent back Shikhar Dhawan (13) after he had started to show some spark, having hit Samuels for a couple of fours.
The Chargers would have been three down in the very next over, had wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa taken an easy catch off Parnell to see off Cameron White, who had hit a match-winning 46-ball 78 in the previous game against the same opponents.
But luck favoured the hosts and determined to capitalise on the life he got, White along with Sangakkara went on to play a cautious innings, reaching 58 for two after 10 overs.
Even as the duo stole a couple of fours and sixes whenever they got lose balls but actually failed to accelerate the innings, with 91 on the board at the end of the 14th over.
But Sangakkara suddenly turned the tide around as churned out as many as 19 runs off Samuels over, hitting four boundaries to lift his team beyond 100-run mark.
He followed it up with another 12 runs of the next over of Parnell to set his team for a competitive total.
White then joined his partner in the run-riot as he went on to steal 25 runs off Ganguly's over, hitting him for three consecutive sixes and a four to completely turn the match in the Chargers' favour.
The next over of Nehra was no different as that yielded also another 25 runs before Sangakkara got out of the last ball. The Ganguly-Nehra combination in seven overs gave away 80 runs which could prove to be decisive in the end.
White lost his wicket in the first ball of the final over but by then the damage was done.
News Posted: 1 May, 2012
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