Luckless Deccan lose again, Punjab move to 18 by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

---

Scorecard:	Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers
Player:	AC Gilchrist, HH Gibbs, RG Sharma, SB Styris, SE Marsh, KC Sangakkara, Yuvraj Singh, S Sreesanth
Event:	Indian Premier League 2007/08

---

DateLine: 24th May 2008

 

In an inconsequential match – from the knock out’s perspective – the Deccan Chargers took on the Kings XI Punjab today at the cricket ground in P.C.A. in Mohali. With Deccan Chargers out of the tournament, and the Kings having already qualified for the semi final, the match did not have too much importance attached to it, except for Yuvraj and Gilchrist to be able to try out some new players.

 

Yuvraj Singh won the toss and elected to field first, and for a change the Deccan Chargers were off to a good start. This could be attributed to the fact that Shahis Afridi had been dropped and replaced by a regular opener in Hershelle Gibbs. The two added 79 before Gibbs was consumed by Gagandeep Singh for 44. In the meantime Gilchrist completed his 50, and had to walk back, bowled by Powar. Powar incidentally was instrumental in restricting the Deccans to their total with his amazing spell of loop and spin, ending with 4-0-20-1. Rohit Sharma had a slow start but then his original form of the tournament took over, smashing another fifty off only 27 balls, and his knock coupled with Chamara Silva’s 23 propelled the score to 175/4 in 20 overs.

 

Kumar Sangakkara had recovered from his injury and replaced James Hopes in the team and as an opener. At the other end was the man-in-superlative-form, Shaun Marsh, and if anyone had any doubts about his form, or any belief in the Law-of-Averages, he dispelled them completely. The opening partnership yielded 84 and it took only seven and a half overs to do so before Sanagkkara left after having scored the third score of exactly 50! Yuvraj promoted himself to number three to get some runs under his belt and did play some powerful drives but soon holed out, and when Marsh and Luke Pomersbach left in quick succession, the match could have become exciting. However, a 16 run Styris over ended any such hopes and the Kings won by six wickets and 3 balls to spare.

 

Shaun Marsh won his 4th Man-of-the-Match award in the tournament