 Daredevils tame Deccan Chargers to snap losing streak
16th May 2008 09:02 IST
Agencies
Amit Mishra registered the second hat-trick of the Indian Premier League as Delhi Daredevils staved off Deccan Chargers' audacious design for an upset win and eked out a nervy 12-run victory to snap their losing spree in New Delhi Thursday night.
Chasing 195, the lowly Deccans did not have a single match-winning knock but they put together a string of cameos to reach near the target before eventually folding up for 182/9.
Mishra removed Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha and Rudra Pratap Singh off three successive balls in a dramatic last over to record the second hat-trick of the tournament. His figure read 4-0-17-5.
Adam Gilchrist (14) and Shahid Afridi (33) walked in to spearhead the Deccan riposte and the swashbuckling duo looked in tremendous hurry to wrap up things. To make it worse for the hosts, Dinesh Karthik spilled an edge from Gilchrist off Mohammad Asif before Glenn McGrath cut short his compatriot's stay in the third over.
There, however, was no dearth of firepower as Herschelle Gibbs (22) seemed keen to make amends for his string of poor shows and smote McGrath for two sixes as he decided to match Afridi shot for shot.
Things looked quite ominous for the hosts before Mishra did the trick. He struck with his first ball as Afridi perished at point and, in his next over, the leggie sent down a googly which got the better of Gibbs' defence, ending the Protea's run-a-ball knock. Afridi's 14-ball sizzler included three four and two sixes.
Rohit Sharma (35) continued his rich vein of form, milking 19 runs off a Rajat Bhatia over but a moment of madness and a fluffed paddle sweep brought his peril as a Farveez Maharoof delivery rattled his timbers. His 18-ball cameo was studded with three fours and two sixes.
Scott Styris (29) and Venugopal Rao (34 off 18 balls) almost accomplished the mission before falling in quick succession and with their dismissal, Deccan's hopes for their third win in the tournament went up in smoke as the visitors lost wickets in a heap towards the end with Mishra emerging as the wrecker-in-chief.
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