Dharamsala: The Deccan Chargers won their fourth game on the trot to take one more step towards booking a semi-final berth by stealing a thriller from the Kings XI Punjab on Friday. This time it was Rohit Sharma (68 off 38) who powered the Deccan chase to take the visitors home by five wickets in the last over in the picturesque Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
Chasing 175, Deccan were jolted early with Adam Gilchrist (nine off five) once again failing to make a mark. And when Monish Mishra (20 off 21) fell to a dubious umpiring decision, Punjab seemed to be in control. Continue reading below
However, a composed 66-run stand between Deccan's Mr Reliable Rohit Sharma and their find of the season T Suman put Deccan on track. It was the most well planned chase from there on as Deccan at no point let Punjab crawl back in the game.
Though Punjab had a glimmer of hope after Suman (43 off 31) and Andrew Symonds (four off six) perished in quick succession, but Rohit's lusty blows kept Deccan ahead. The batsman blasted six fours and three sixes in his unbeaten knock.
Earlier, Mahela Jayawardene smashed a peerless 93 not out off 62 balls to take the Kings XI Punjab to 174-3.
Deccan, whose bowlers have earned the reputation of losing their nerves at the death, leaked 76 in the last five with Jayawardene scoring 57 off the last 18 balls. The classy batsman hit RP Singh for five consecutive boundaries in the 18th over.
Jayawardene, who took eight balls to get off the mark, carried his bat through the innings and fell just seven short of what would have been his second hundred in this year's IPL. The Sri Lankan smashed 13 fours and two sixes and added two stands of 86 runs each with Kumar Sangakkara (52 off 37) and Yuvraj Singh (20 off 20).
