14 May,2012 12:24 AM IST | | Agencies
It was another last-ball thriller with Gurkeerat Singh smashing a boundary off the final delivery to take Kings XI Punjab to a four-wicket win over Deccan Chergers here today.
Nedding 16 off the last over, Gurkeerat hit MS Gony for a six and two boundaries to pull off an incredible win. He first slammed Gony over deep midwicket for a six and then got a four through sweeper cover. Gurkeerat finished the chase in style, pulling the bowler over the fine-leg region. u00a0
KXIP skipper David Hussey (right) and Gurkeerat Singh (centre) celebrate thw in as DC skipper Kumar Sangakkara looks on. Pic/AFPu00a0
Defending 190, Deccan were in the driver's seat for most of the match, but somehow managed to once more snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The foundatin for Gurkeerat's blitz was laid by skipper David Hussey, who led a dramatic fightback with an unbeaten 35-ball 65.
Punjab who were at one time 56 for three in the eight cam back thanks to Hussey and Gurkeerat's 29 off 12 balls towards the end.
This was Punjab's seventh win and they would hope for positive results in their three coming matches.
Hussey hit four fours and five sixes during his swashbuckling knock and was solely responsible for the stunning win, which undid Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White's good work earlier in the day.
Dhawan and White struck brisk half-centuries as the Chargers posted an imposing 190 for four after they elected to bat at the PCA Stadium.
Hussey, however, had other ideas as he launched into the Chargers attack with a flurry of fours and sixes from the word go. The Aussie's knock was even more special as Punjab needed more than 100 runs in the last 10 overs with the top four back in the pavilion.
Chasing an imposing target, Kings XI failed to get the desired start, losing Nitin Saini and Shaun Marsh with just 26 runs on the board.
Mandeep Singh chugged on for a while before getting out for 28 off 20 balls to leave Punjab in some sort of trouble.
Azhar Mahmood struck a 20-ball 31 but the hosts needed more than that from the allrounder at that point of time.
Punjab were lucky that they found their man in Hussey.u00a0u00a0
Earlier, Shikhar Dhawan and Cameron White struck brisk half-centuries to guide Deccan Chargers to an imposing 190 for four in their Indian Premier League match against Kings XI Punjab here today.
Dhawan slammed 71 off 50 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes, while White remained unbeaten on a quickfire 67 that came off 41. He hit eight fours and a six.
Dan Christian blazed his way to 24 off 10 balls to give the impetus in the last couple of overs.
Opting to bat after the coin landed in skipper Kumar Sangakkara's favour, the Chargers were left to rely on Dhawan and White.
The two joined hands and added 96 runs for the third wicket after the visitors lost Parthiv Patel and Sangakkara in quick succession.
Coming into the match with more than 400 runs under his belt in this IPL, Dhawan continued his good run of form with the bat and looked in total command in the middle.
Playing shots all round the ground, Dhawan got to his 50 off just 36 balls, his fifth in this edition of the tournament, with a single down the ground off Piyush Chawla.
Shikhar Dhwan continued his fine form. Pic/AFP
White, too, was in the mood as he milked the Punjab bowlers with consummate ease.
With both Dhawan and White going strong, the 100 was up for the Chargers by the 12th over.
And then came the shot of the innings as Dhawan scooped Awana for a six over fine-leg, much to the Chargers' delight.
To check the flow of runs, Punjab skipper David Hussey brought back pacer Ryan Harris, but White flicked him fine enough that fetched him another boundary.
Punjab had a chance to hold things back when White mistimed Chawla in the first ball of the 15th over, but Harris dropped a sitter at wide long-off. The batsman was on 34 then.
If that was not enough, Chawla dropped White at extra cover, another easy offering, after the batsman added just three runs. The unlucky bowler, on that occasion, was Azhar Mahmood.
White immediately took advantage of those misses, pulling Mahmood over midwicket for a boundary.
Even as White was living dangerously, Dhawan hit one straight over the bowler's head, before holing out at third man off Praveen Kumar.
White and Christian then clobbered a few sixes off Harris and Awana to take their team to a daunting total.
Awana conceded 20 runs in the innings' penultimate over, with Christian hitting him for two sixes. u00a0
