Deccan gets their third successive win by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

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Scorecard:	Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians
Player:	HH Gibbs, AC Gilchrist, PP Ojha, SR Tendulkar
Event:	Indian Premier League 2009

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DateLine: 25th April 2009

 

With some unswerving bowling in display, Deccan Chargers defeated Mumbai Indians by 12 runs in the 12th match of the IPL at Kingsmead. Deccan Chargers' have been the story of the tournament so far. The last year's bottom placed team is now leading the points table with three sweeping victories from three matches. They have crushed Kolkata Knight Riders and Bangalore Royal Challengers and now Mumbai Indians. With the kind of form they are running, Chargers have certainly worn the favourite tag in the tournament.

 

Pragyan Ojha finished with figures of 3 for 21 in four overs while RP Singh and Fidel Edwards picked up two wickets apiece. Ojha came back strongly after the break as he got rid of Sachin Tendulkar, Shikhar Dhawan and JP Duminy in three overs. Ojha first foxed Sachin, who scored 36 runs in 27 balls that included 3 fours and 2 sixes. Sachin tried to go over cover region but ended up hitting it straight to Gibbs at extra cover. Ojha then outsmarted Dhawan cheaply after cleaning up his stumps. Ojha's full toss did the trick for Duminy as he stepped down to loft it over mid-wicket but his shot ended up in Smith's hands, who ran too fast to hold a well-judged catch which looked comfortable in the end. Duminy made a well-struck 47 of just 40 balls.

 

Mumbai had high hopes from Abhishek Nayar but he too couldn't last long to bail out his team. Dwayne Bravo played a fine little knock towards the end but didn't succeed. Bravo was trapped in front from a good yorker by Edwards. Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy were going steady, after losing opener Sanath Jayasuriya, in pursuit of their 169-run target as the Mumbai team was 84 for one at the halfway mark as compared to their opponents who were at 88 for one. Charger's seamer Rudra Partap Singh justified his 'Purple Cap' as he got rid of dangerous Mumbai Indians' batsman Sanath Jayasuriya early in the innings.

 

Jayasuriya went for a pull shot on a delivery that wasn't short enough and top-edged it to give an easy catch to Gilchrist. Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy got hold of the proceedings quite well. Tendulkar started the assault in the fifth over of their innings as he picked up Chargers' Harmeet Singh, who came as a first change replacing Fidel Edwards. Sachin samshed fours in the first two balls while dispatched the third one for a six. Harmeet gave away 19 runs in his very first over.

 

Deccan chargers were 36 for no loss after the end of 4 overs while Mumbai Indians were on 26 losing just one wicket. Mumbai team reached 50-run mark in exact six overs. Earlier, Dwayne Bravo and Lasith Malinga shared six wickets to restrict Deccan Chargers to 168/9 in 20 overs in the 12th match of the Indian Premier League at Kingsmead. Seamer Malinga finished with the figures of 3 for 19 equally complimented by Bravo who also picked up three wickets after giving away 34 runs. Both the pacers did their job perfectly to restrict Chargers charge after they had a flying start in the initial part of the match.

 

Deccan chargers openers Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs gave their team a rollicking start after opting to bat first. Deccan team was steady at the score of 88 after losing just one wicket at the halfway stage. The opening duo stitched a crucial partnership of 63 runs before Gilchrist chased a Dwayne Bravo's widish delivery that took a faint edge en-route to wicket-keeper. Gilchrist hammered three sixes and same number of fours in his 20 ball 35 blitzkrieg. Dwayne Smith played a quick-fire knock of 22 ball 35 runs. He added 61 runs for the second wicket with Herschelle Gibbs. Gibbs scored his maiden IPL fifty in just 38 balls that included five fours and two sixes. Gibbs got run out after a terrible mix-up with Venugopal Rao. Rao called Gibbs for the second run before saying no to his partner.

 

Venugopal Rao got out after a scorching yorker by Malinga rattled Rao's stumps. Rao got a reprieve a delivery before when Sachin Tendulkar dropped a lolly after the ball spilled out of his hands at the eleventh hour. The second wicket went in the form of Dwayne Smith, who came on the front foot to slog sweep Jaysuriya's delivery but got deceived by the flight as the ball hit the stumps. Rohit Sharma didn't contribute much as he got out early after trying to slice Bravo's delivery over extra cover but didn't get the right elevation resulting Shikhar Dhawan taking an easy catch.