IPL
Chargers crush Challengers
2009-05-24 20:24
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Deccan Chargers win IPL (AFP)
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Johannesburg - The Deccan Chargers held their nerve and beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by six runs to win the second IPL Trophy - 12 months after finishing stone last in the first IPL.
A capacity Wanderers crowd cheered, whistled and screamed as the match went down to the wire - the Challengers, chasing a target of 144, needed 15 runs off the last over, but they had only one wicket left, and the task proved too much. They finished their innings on 137 for nine.
The Challengers started at a measured pace, scoring at more or less a run a ball until Jacques Kallis was bowled by RP Singh for 15 in the third over, and Manish Pandey - the hero of the Challengers' semifinal victory over the Chennai Super Kings on Saturday - was caught by Gilchrist off Ohja for just four.
Titans all-rounder Roelof van der Merwe held centre stage for a short time, hitting three sixes and a four on his way to 32, before he was stumped by Adam Gilchrist off Ohja.
His innings was short but fiery - he and Australian Andrew Symonds exchanged some words - and while not all his strokes were textbook, they had the desired effect. Rahul Dravid made nine before he was bowled by Harmeet Singh, and the Challengers' run chase started to falter.
But it was Symonds that turned the game around, when he took two wickets off successive balls to dismiss Ross Taylor (27) and Virat Kohli (7). From then on, the required run rate grew with every ball, and the Challengers' wickets continued to tumble.
Mark Boucher was caught by Proteas teammate Herschelle Gibbs off Harmeet Singh for 5, Ohja claimed his third scalp to dismiss Praveen Kumar, who was caught by RP singh for two, and Harmeet Singh caught Vinay Kumar off Ryan Harris for eight.
Earlier, Challengers captain Anil Kumble tore through the Deccan Chargers, taking four wickets for just 16 runs to restrict the team from Hyderabad to a total of 142 for six. He made his most telling breakthrough in the first over, when he dismissed his Chargers counterpart, Adam Gilchrist for a duck.
Gilchrist was the hero of the Chargers' semi-final victory, scoring a whirlwind 85 off 35 balls to put his team into a winning position.
Tirumalasetti Suman fell two overs later, caught by Manish Pandey off Vinay Kumar for 10. Andrew Symonds made a quick 33 off 21 balls before he was bowled by Kumble in the ninth over.
With his partners falling by the wayside, Herschelle Gibbs played an uncharacteristically subdued role, although he hit a magnificent six to take him to his half century, which came off 47 balls.
He and Rohit Sharma shared a fourth wicket stand of 52 before Kumble claimed his third wicket when Sharma was caught by Pandey for 24, and his fourth wicket in the same over when Azhar Bilakhia was caught by Ross Taylor without scoring.