The Kings XI Punjab scored 174 for the loss of three wickets against the Deccan Chargers at the HPCA Stadium in the picturesque hilly town of Dharamshala on Thursday. Jayawardane and Shaun Marsh opened the innings for Kings XI Punjab and Marsh was out for a duck caught Gilchrist bowled Harris. Then Jayawardane alongwith his Sr Lankan team-mate[[ Kumar Sangakara took control of the Punjab’s innings.
The first 50 of the innings came in 6.5 overs. Jayawardane got a life when was dropped off Pragyan Ojha in the 9th over when he was on 21 runs. Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara later scored fifties to take Kings XI Punjab to a strong position.
The most memorable bowl of the innings was bowled by RP Singh. It was a sheer beauty which bounced from slightly short of length and Jayawardane had to do a swinging act to get his head out of the way. The crowd applauded, the commentators applauded and his partner Sangakara also appluaded from the other end. And then he scored two consecutive boundaries off R.P.Singh.
Then Sangakara was out caught Pragyan Ojha bowled Rahul Sharma at the score of 87 for 2 wickets and Yuvraj Singh arrived at the crease. Jayawardane opened out in the 16th over and scored a six and a boundry off Rahul Sharma. In the 17th over R.P.Singh was hit for 20 runs by Jayawardane. Yuvraj and Jayawardane took 18 runs in the penultimate over.
Yuvraj was out caught Symonds on the long on boundry bowled R.P.Singh for 20 runs and Yuvraj did not cross over during the pendency of the catch otherwise the last ball could have been played by Jayawardane.
Jayawardane was 93 not out which were punctuated with 13 fours and two sixes. Kings XI Punjab scored 173 for the loss of 3 wickets in the allotted 20 overs.
In reply thereto, Deccan Chargers opened their innings with Adam Gilchrist and Monish Sharma. Deccan lost Gilchrist cheaply as he was out caught Theron bowled Pathan for 9 runs. Monish Sharma also departed at the score of 54 for 2.
Though the umpiring decision in giving Sharma out lbw has not been quite convincing after watching the replays but is felt that such errors do occur when the crowd is shouting at the top of their voice.
Tirumalsetti Suman played a magnificent innings of 43 runs and was out caught Sangakara bowled Piyush Chawla. In this innings he hit 3 boundaries and three sixes and was out at the teams total of 120 for 3.
Needing to chase atleast 9 runs per over Deccan Chargers had lost Gilchrist early. But despite these setbacks a 66-run stand between Rohit Sharma and T Suman kept them in the hunt. It was the classic batting performance by Rohit Sharma who scored 68 runs with the help of 6 fours and 3 sixes which saw Deccan Chargers taste victory in this match.
They needed 29 in the last three overs and 19 runs from the last two overs. Irfan Pathan bowled the 19th over. Running between wickets was extremely good and Mitchel Marsh and Rohit Sharma stole 2 runs off three balls and a six off the 5th ball of the 19th over to plunder 18 runs.
Deccan Chargers needed 1 run off the last over and the formality was completed off the very first ball. Deccan Chargers won the match by 5 wickets.
For the Deccan Chargers Malik took 1 wicket for 23 runs, Pathan got 1 for 35 and Theron, Chawla and Yuvraj got one wicket each.
This is their fourth straight win and this has given them a chance to try for the semi-final race.
The award for the maximum Sixes was given to T Suman.
The Karbonn Kamaal Catch was awarded to Theron.
The Man of the match was awarded to Rohit Sharma.
Ravi Matah.