Hyderabad, May 25: Bangalore Royal Challengers’ late resurgence continued as they registered their second consecutive victories by defeating Deccan Chargers by 5 wickets after handing a humiliating defeat to Chennai Super Kings two days back. Chasing a target of 166, they overcame Deccan’s score in 17 overs with Cameron White and Balachandra Akhil remained unbeaten on 31 and 27 respectively.

Sanjay Bangar struck gold for Deccan Chargers as he removed Challengers’ captain Rahul Dravid for 31. Dravid’s 21-ball knock studded with 3 fours and a six.

Part-timer Ravi Teja struck in his first ball as he induced a miss-hit from T20 specialist Misbah-ul-Haq for 35. Haq, who was going great gun, tonked four fours and a solitary six in his 28-ball entertaining knock. After 12 overs, Challengers scored 83 for 3.

Royal Challengers lost their second wicket to run-out as Jacques Kallis failed to complete his ground. Kallis was out for 31. After 7 overs, Challengers were 46 for 2.

Bangalore Royal Challengers started their chase in an inauspicious fashion as they lost opener Washim Jaffer(5) early. Jaffer was run out after making only 5.

Riding on an excellent opening partnership of 101 runs between Gilchrist(47) and Gibbs(46), and a late order burst by redeemed Venugopal Rao (22off 10 balls), Deccan Chargers’ vulnerable batting clicked again for the second consecutive matches as they raked up a competitive 165 in stipulated 20 overs against Bangalore Royal Challengers here on Sunday.

Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist gave Deccan Chargers a flying start as they stitched a century opening partnership in just 11 overs. Leaving his bad IPL form behind, Herschelle Gibbs smashed an attractive 47 off just 34 balls before being stumped off Anil Kumble. Australian Adam Gilchrist was also playing attackingly for his unbeaten 45.

Deccan Chargers got off to a cautious start as they leapfrogged to 34 for no loss after 5 overs. Both the openers- Adam Gilchrist (15 n.o) and Herschelle Gibbs (10 n.o)- were not taking any undue risks, but putting the bad balls away in between.

The captain of the Deccan Chargers, Adam Gilchrist, won the toss and chose to bat first in a game which Scott Styris called the “game of the tournament” as it is the clash between the two teams which have captured the bottom of the league table.

Rahul Dravid was upbeat after beating Chennai Super Kings in their last game which threw the series wide open at the top.

Deccan haven`t won a game yet at their home ground. That`s a record they`d like to set straight.

Praveen Kumar has been ruled out due to an injury. Also, Cameron White will replace Mark Boucher.

Deccan Chargers innings: AC Gilchrist c Akhil b Vinay Kumar 46, HH Gibbs st Goswami b Kumble 47, RG Sharma c Steyn b Vinay Kumar 17, LPC Silva c Goswami b Kohli 0, Y Venugopal Rao c Jaffer b Vinay Kumar 26, DB Ravi Teja b Kohli 7, AS Yadav c sub (B Chipli) b Steyn 8, SB Bangar run out (Vinay Kumar) 0, WPUJC Vaas run out (Goswami) 0, RP Singh b Steyn 1, DP Vijaykumar not out 0 Extras: (lb 3, w 8, nb 2) 13 Total: (all out; 20 overs) 165 (8.25 runs per over) FOW: 1-101, 2-109, 3-109, 4-123, 5-151, 6-164, 7-164, 8-164, 9-165, 10-165 Bowling: A Kumble 4-0-33-1, DW Steyn 4-0-19-2, JH Kallis 1.2-0-19-0, V Kohli 3.4-0-25-2, R Vinay Kumar 4-0-27-3, B Akhil 3-0-39-0

Bangalore Royal Challengers innings: JH Kallis run out (Silva) 31, W Jaffer run out (Yadav) 5, Misbah-ul-Haq c Silva b Ravi Teja 34, R Dravid c Gilchrist b Bangar 31CL White not out 31, V Kohli c Ravi Teja b Vaas 9, B Akhil not out 27 Extras (lb 3) 3 Total: (5 wickets; 19 overs) 171 (9.00 runs per over) FOW: 1-20, 2-46, 3-79, 4-119, 5-141 Bowling: WPUJC Vaas 4-0-36-1, RP Singh 3-0-15-0, SB Bangar 4-0-30-1, DP Vijaykumar 4-0-29-0, Y Venugopal Rao 1-0-18-0, DB Ravi Teja 2-0-19-1, LPC Silva 1-0-21-0

KKR restrict Kings to 174

Agencies

Kolkata, May 25: Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowlers fought back well to restrict in-form Kings XI batting line-up to 174 for 6 in allotted 20 overs. Umar Gul was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed 4 wickets for just 23 runs while debutant Ajantha Mendis removed Shaun Marsh.

After playing a fine innings of 63, Kumar Sangakkara departed. Sangakkara played a attractive knock studded with seven fours and two sixes. After 15 overs, Kings were 133 for 3.

New recruit of KKR Ajantha Mendis cut shorts Shaun Marsh’s innings as he sent Marsh packing for 40. The in-form Marsh was looking all set to make a big score before miscuing a leg-break off Mendis. After 13 overs, Kings were 108 for 2 with Sangakkara was looking in ominous touch for his unbeaten 50 off just 37 balls.

Two Kings XI southpaws- Kumar Sanagakkara (16 n.o) and Shaun Marsh (21 n.o)- gave their team a flying start after having lost James Hopes(13) early. After 7 overs, Kings were 58 for 1.

Kings XI Punjab won the toss and decided to bat first against Kolkata Knight Riders in a match that holds little significance as Kings XI are already through to semis whereas KKR out of the contention.

But pride is at stake for high-profile KKR who are playing their last game of IPL and in front of the huge home crowd they would like to bid adieu this year’s IPL in a winning note. They have brought in Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lankan spinner who is touted as next big thing after Murlitharan.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Salman Butt, Sourav Ganguly(c), Debabrata Das, David Hussey, Aakash Chopra, Wriddhiman Saha(w), Laxmi Shukla, Umar Gul, Ajantha Mendis, Ishant Sharma, Ashok Dinda

Kings XI Punjab (Playing XI): James Hopes, Shaun Marsh, Kumar Sangakkara(w), Yuvraj Singh(c), Mahela Jayawardene, Piyush Chawla, Tanmay Srivastava, Ramesh Powar, Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth, VRV Singh

Kings XI Punjab innings: SE Marsh c Chopra b Mendis 40, JR Hopes lbw b Umar Gul 13, KC Sangakkara lbw b Umar Gul 64, Yuvraj Singh run out (Saha) 27, DPMD Jayawardene not out 11, IK Pathan b Umar Gul 7, PP Chawla b Umar Gul 0, TM Srivastava not out 1 Extras: (lb 1, w 10) 11 Total: (6 wickets; 20 overs) 174 (8.70 runs per over) FOW: 1-24, 2-107, 3-133, 4-164, 5-173, 6-173 Bowling: Umar Gul 4-0-23-4, I Sharma 4-0-49-0, BAW Mendis 4-0-24-1, AB Dinda 2-0-18-0, DJ Hussey 4-0-36-0, LR Shukla 2-0-23-0