TheSportsCampus

There were unbelievable scenes at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Wednesday night as Ishant Sharma wrecked the Kochi Tuskers top order to pick up 5 wickets giving away just 12 runs in a lethal spell of pace bowling. Kochi were amazingly 6 for 5 at one stage in their chase of 129 thanks to Sharma who ripped through the Kochi line-up. Kochi finished with just 74 with six batsmen scoring ducks, as Ishant gathered 5 and Dale Steyn chipped in with 3 scalps as well. Earlier in the day, the Deccan Chargers were in trouble at 20 for 3 but Kumar Sangakkara and Cameron White rescued the innings with what turned out to be a match-winning 90 run partnership. 

Kochi was set to host the battle of the two former Sri Lankan captains on Wednesday night as Mahela Jayawardene squared off against Kumar Sangakkara. The Deccan Chargers had become basement dwellers over recent weeks, but a win could change their fortunes. Kochi Tuskers' great run was halted by Rajasthan in Jaipur and the IPL newcomers would have fancied their chances of returning to winning ways against one of the presumed whipping boys of the league.

The home captain, Jayawardene, won the toss and decided to field first as had been the trend at Kochi. Brendon McCullum was fit to play and replaced Muttiah Muralitharan in the side. VVS Laxman made way for home boy S Sreesanth who was given another chance to impress. The Deccan Chargers made one change looking at the conditions and brought seamer Manpreet Gony in for left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha.

Kochi got off to the perfect start as RP Singh, making excellent use of the conditions, swung his way to a wicket in the first over itself, trapping Sunny Sohal (1) right in front of the stumps. Sreesanth bowled an equally brilliant over from the other end but it was RP Singh who dealt another blow removing the in-form Shikhar Dhawan for 4 off 9 balls. RP Singh could have had a third in the same over but Bharat Chipli was put down by Brendon McCullum.

Sreesanth continued to be the unluckiest bowler in the universe as he bowled a peach of a delivery to rattle Sangakkara’s stumps but was denied the wicket as the TV umpire reported that he had overstepped. He took out his frustrations by bowling a beamer next ball which nearly took Sangakkara's head off. But the third wicket fell soon after as Chipli (4) was caught by Sreesanth off Vinay Kumar. At 20 for 3 ar the end of the powerplay, Deccan had made the worst start in the tournament by far.

Sreesanth came back into the attack and bowled a maiden as the Chargers struggled to get going. Sangakkara had another life when Parthiv Patel couldn’t catch a tough chance as the ball just kissed his gloves. Cameron White meanwhile was struggling to even get bat on ball as the run rate stagnated below 4. The Deccan Chargers had scored just 37 runs in the first 10 overs and needed some great batting to take them to a competitive total.

Sangakkara decided that it was time to get a move on and hit the innings' third boundary in the 11^th over off Lankan teammate Thisara Perera. White hit his first boundary in the same over to give his partner some support and a momentum shift was clearly visible. White hit the first maximum of the night off Ravindra Jadeja and things were looking better for the Chargers having scored 46 runs in the last 4 overs to take the run rate up to 6.

With 6 overs to go and both batsmen threatening to break free Deccan were hoping to reach a competitive total. Sangakkara reached 50 in the 15^th over with a fine paddle sweep. He added fuel to Sreesanth’s fire smashing him for 3 boundaries in an over. The 100 of the innings was reached in that same over with the second 50 taking just 25 balls.

The 90 run partnership was finally broken by Vinay Kumar when White (31) holed out in the deep and Kumar struck again next ball with a slower delivery getting the prized wicket of Sangakkara. Sangakkara scored a blistering 65 off 47 balls, while Kumar finished his spell with excellent figures of 3 for 25. RP Singh came back to bowl a tight over and ended his spell with figures of 2 for 21. The innings ended for 129 which looked too modest a total to defend. Sangakkara and White were the only batsmen to get to double figures which showed how dismal the rest of the batting performance was.

Deccan needed early wickets to come back into the game and Dale Steyn gave them exactly what they needed getting rid of Brendon McCullum for a duck. After Steyn bowled a wicket maiden it was necessary for Ishant Sharma to back him up. And Ishant stunned the home fans with three scalps in a single over. He first found the edge of Parthiv Patel’s bat and then knocked over Raiphi Gomez next ball. He couldn’t get a hattrick but he did get a third in the over when he went past Brad Hodge’s defence to leave the scoreline at 2 for 4. Jayawardene survived an over from Steyn but Kedar Jadhav departed in the next over as Ishant took his 4^th conceding just 1 run. The scoreboard read 6 for 5 (all 5 batsmen out for ducks) and it was hard to believe that it was a cricket score and not that of a football match.

Jadeja got off the mark with a blazing cut to the boundary which gave the home crowd something to cheer about but Ishant took an amazing 5^th the same over when Jayawardene (4) nicked one to Sangakkara. Ishant had taken 5 wickets from just the 12 balls he had bowled thus far. The score looked a touch better after Perera hit two boundaries off consecutive balls. The action-packed powerplay finally ended with Kochi in deep-deep trouble at 29 for 6.

Although Kochi had lost 6 wickets for just 11, but the two men in the middle were capable enough to still pull it off. The atmosphere was quite gloomy as the home side was on the back foot but the crowd was back on their feet as Jadeja and Perera hit a boundary each when Manpreet Gony came on to bowl. But Dan Christian and Amit Mishra bowled two tight overs after that to make the required rate surge. And the pressure got to Perera when he mistimed his pull and fell for a well made 22 off 23 balls. Kochi were 47 for 7 at that juncture and it needed a gem of an innings to take them home. The 50 came up in the 12^th over but the match was slipping out of reach of the Tuskers. Runs weren’t coming quickly enough and Deccan were coasting home. The score was 66 for 7 at the end of 14 overs and Kochi needed 64 from the last 6 overs to win the game.

Jadeja’s effort finally came to an end when he found the man in the deep having scored 23 off 35 balls and it was just a matter of time before the Chargers wrapped things up. The winning margin was important though, because it would affect both teams' net run rate immensely and hence Deccan brought Dale Steyn back into the attack. The South African pacer didn’t disappoint and hit Vinay Kumar’s (18) stumps breaking its tip with an impact ball. After a small break to replace the broken stump Steyn wasted no time to wrap up the match as he bowled RP Singh first ball. Kochi’s miserable innings ended for 74 and it meant a huge win for Chargers.

Kochi Tuskers will be bitterly disappointed with their batting effort but have a chance to get back to winning ways when they host Delhi Daredevils in a couple of days time. The Tuskers slide one place down to 8^th and are amazingly struggling against teams one would really expect them to beat.

The Deccan Chargers will get a huge lift after this win and with the quick bowlers on top form they would fancy themselves to win a few more and get in contention for the knock-out rounds. They have a few days off before they face Chennai Super Kings in Chepauk this coming Sunday.

Teams:

Kochi Tuskers Kerala: Brendon McCullum, Mahela Jayawardene(c), Ravindra Jadeja, Brad Hodge, Kedar Jadhav, Parthiv Patel (wk), Raiphi Gomez, Vinay Kumar, RP Singh, Thisara Perera, S Sreesanth

Deccan Chargers: Sunny Sohal, Shikhar Dhawan, Kumar Sangakkara (c & wk), Cameron White, Daniel Christian, Bharat Chipli, Ravi Teja, Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Manpreet Gony, Ishant Sharma

Mini Scorecard:

Deccan Chargers 129/7 (20 overs, 6.45rpo)
Kumar Sangakkara 65 (47) Vinay Kumar 3-25
Suresh Raina 31 (34) RP Singh 2-21

Kochi Tuskers 74 all out (16.3 overs, 4.48rpo)
R Jadeja   23(35)   I Sharma   5-12
T Perera   22(23)   D Steyn    3-16

Deccan Chargers win by 55 runs