Deccan charge beat Royal challenges by 33 Runs

Deccan Chargers 175 for 5 (Chipli 61*, Sohal 38, Zaheer 3-32) hit RC Bangalore 142 for 9 (Kohli 71, Steyn 3-24, Gony 3-31) by 33 runs 

Hyderabad: Deccan Chargers snap their seven-match behind streak at their home ground with a 33 run severe of Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League match on Thursday. Bharat Chipli first help Deccan set up a big total of 175 for five with a sweltering victorious 61 after being put into bat before the home side controlled RCB to 142/9 to break the plague of not winning any of their seven earlier matches at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium at Uppal here.

This was also Deccan`s first win this period after behind their first two matches. Deccan bowlers complement the excellent show by their batsmen with pacers Dale Steyn and Manpreet Gony taking three wickets each by surrendering 24 and 31 runs correspondingly.

Ishant Sharma, Daniel Christian and Amit Mishra chip in with one wicket respectively. RCB, who misplaced to Mumbai Indians in their last match after starting their campaign on a winning note, suffer early jolt by behind four wickets inside seven overs and they could never get well from there.

Virat Kohli fought a lone battle with an excellent 51-ball 71 which was studded with five fours and three sixes but he did not get carry from his other RCB colleagues. Chasing an inflexible target of 176, RCB had just one extensive partnership -- 54 from 5.4 overs for the sixth wicket between Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara. Steyn and Ishant did the early injure to RCB with swing and bounce.

Ishant got achievement in his first over and the second of the innings by removing unsafe Tillakaratne Dilshan for just seven, caught at the rear by Deccan captain and wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara.

RCB sent in Zaheer Khan as one-down but the team-management`s ploy to use him as pinch hitter unsuccessful as he was out for naught after facing three balls with a Steyn full toss noisy at the wickets. RCB were 16 for two in the third over. 

Sangakkara bring in Gony in place of Steyn in the fifth over and Deccan got instant success in the form of the wicket of opener Mayank Agrawal. Agarwal holed out to Amit Mishra at mid-on while trying to play a big shot as RCB found themselves in trouble at 27 for three in the fifth over.

Gony added one more wicket to his kitty by dismiss key man AB de Villiers for a seven-ball duck in the seventh over as RCB drooping to 29 for four and deep difficulty. Asking rate shot up to 12 an over by the 10th over at the end of which RCB could crore just 53 for four. 

Saurabh Tiwary (7), who was bought for a huge sum in the auction, dissatisfied once again as he top-edged a Mishra release while trying for a big shot to bring down the asking rate for Sangakkara to take an easy catch.

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Gilchrist get Preity Zinta's backing

Adam Gilchrist is not a juggler and needs time to turn things around for Kings XI Punjab in the IPL, said Preity Zinta, co-owner of the team. "I am hopeful of a turn and know that Gilchrist is a brilliant team leader. But he is not a magician and should be given time to settle down," Zinta said after Kings XI Punjab's win over Chennai Super Kings.

Gilchrist, the former Australian wicketkeeper, is the skipper of Punjab group this season after leading Deccan Chargers to victory in the second version of the Twenty20 league. "We have lot many games left. We will absolutely emerge stronger," the Bollywood actress said about her team, adding that "failures are pillars of success".

Zinta also hope that every member of KXIP would give to the team`s success. "Everybody has to realize that they have to break off in. Cricket is not a human being sport and everyone needs to supply," she said.

The Punjab outfit was thrash by league debutants Pune Warriors India, skippered by India middle-order batsman Yuvraj Singh, in its opening game in Mumbai.

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Clarke hails precursor Ponting

Michael Clarke hails Ricky Ponting for his positive pressure on the Australia team. Australia sweep the three-match one-day series in Bangladesh with a 66-run triumph in Mirpur on Wednesday.

Clarke taste his first series victory as captain thanks to Michael Hussey's luminous century and an all-round presentation from Shane Watson (72 runs and two wickets) amidst a run-feast which saw 656 runs scored in total. Bangladesh opener Imrul Kayes led the fightback with a knock of 93, but the home side finished on 295 for six in reply to Australia's 361 for eight.

Ponting, playing his first series after stepping down as captain, opened the innings with Watson in the nonappearance of Brad Haddin and only missed out on a well-earned half-century by three runs.
Clarke paid tribute to his predecessor, saying: "I am lucky that Ponting is in the team.

"As a young captain I need to keep learning. Whenever the team is under force or don't know what to do I can turn to Ricky." On winning his maiden series as full-time captain, Clarke said: "It was a good series; it was an outstanding effort from the boys. We have lots of talent in the team; it is just about using them."
Clarke singled out Watson - who won the man of the series award - for special praise and hoped his run of good form sustained.

"Watson is enjoying his batting and also doing the job with the ball. We hope he can carry on with his purple patch," he said. Losing Captain Shakib Al Hasan praised his batsmen for putting up a fight after being set a daunting target of 362 for victory. "We batted really well. We execute our plans with the bat," Shakib said.
"But we could not bowl well in all the three games. It's a knowledge process and we will learn from it."
The captain said playing Australia was a useful knowledge and will stand his team in good stead for future series.

He added: "Every time you play a bigger team, you learn from them - how they approach the innings when they batted and the areas where they bowled."

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Pune top IPL table with vigorous win

Pune Warriors' inspiring start to the Indian Premier League season continued with a four-wicket win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Regardless of winning the toss, the Tuskers were left reel by Wayne Parnell's three-wicket pull in the early stages but improved well to post 148 for eight, with Brad Hodge (39) and Ravindra Jadeja (47) leading the way.

Hodge also take two wickets to keep Kochi in the game, but steady batting in the middle from Pune's Warrioes' Robin Uthappa (31) and Mohnish Mishra (37) bring them their second victory with seven balls to spare. Alfonso Thomas gave Pune the ideal start by dismissing Brendon McCullum first ball, but it was Parnell who stole the show after that.

He abridged Kochi to 24 for four by dispatch VVS Laxman (nought), Mahela Jayawardene (two) and Parthiv Patel (21).  Things finally developed for the Tuskers thanks to Jadeja and Hodge, who launch a epidemic of boundary shots to keep the run rate on reputable terms.

Pune hit back as Hodge deceased in the 16th over to Rahul Sharma while the 17th saw Jesse Ryder clean up Jadeja, with new man Vinay Kumar run out in a mix-up. Raiphi Gomez led a late rush in a stand of 30 from 17 balls with Shanthakumaran Sreesanth before the latter's run-out off the innings' penultimate delivery.

In reply, Jesse Ryder (17) failed to deliver on a talented start - caught and bowled by Vinay Kumar - as did Graeme Smith (24 off 24) who lifted a full toss straight to deep midwicket. The run rate slowed considerably with the departures of Mithun Manhas and Captain Yuvraj Singh for 12 and eight in that order, Hodge doing the damage on both occasions.

Robin Uthappa's stable innings was pepper with three fours and two sixes before he was bowled by Muttiah Muralitharan, reverse-sweeping on the wrong line, which was follow quickly by Parnell's run-out. It was left to Mishra to steer Pune home and a tense last few overs was finally rounded off when he annoying two sixes and a four off Muralitharan to clinch victory.

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