Cricket

Kings XI and Deccan Chargers on a roll

Both Deccan Chargers Hyderabad and the Punjab Kings XI are on a roll. While the Chargers are on a roll downwards, the Kings are on a roll upwards. The Hyderabadis have now lost 10 out of their 12 matches, whereas the Kings XI have won 9 out of their 12 matches.

In a close match today, the Kings XI scooped the match by six wickets with 3 balls to spare. Although the match had no real value in terms of teams going ahead in the semi-final, it was a challenge for the Chargers to catch up with the Bangalore Royal Challengers and save some face - didn’t happen though. Gilchrist’s team failed once again on account of poor bowling which has been a problem throughout the series. They really need to sort this department in next year’s series.

The Deccan Chargers scored a very competitive 175 which included half-centuries by Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma, alongwith good contributions from Gibbs. Gibbs and Gilchrist had laid a solid foundation for the Chargers who ended up at 175/4. None of the Kings’ bowlers are worth a mention today as all gave away runs easily.

For the Kings XI, Shaun Marsh was once again the hero with an outstanding half-century scoring 60 of just 46 balls. He was given a good opening stand of 84 by Sangakkara who scored a superb 23 ball fifty which included six fours and two sixes. Yuvrag Singh, Pombersbach, Jayawardene and Piyush Chawla all played small significant innings.

The match has clearly proved that Preity Zinta’s team can manage themselves well under pressure and it would be hard for anyone to take them for granted.

Tags: Deccan Chargers Hyderabad, gibbs, gilchrist, Jayawardene, Kings XI Punjab, Piyush Chawla, Pombersbach, preity zinta, rohit sharma, Sangakkara, shaun marsh, yuvraj singh