Sangakkara leads Chargers to 55-run win over Kochi

Deccan's Sri Lankan ace leads from the front with top score of 65 as Kochi lose by 55 runs

Sangakkara leads Chargers to 55-run win over Kochi

Deccan's Sri Lankan ace leads from the front with top score of 65 as Kochi lose by 55 runs

Lanky speedster Ishant Sharma rattled Kochi Tuskers Kerala with some fiery bowling taking five wickets in three overs in the process as the Deccan Chargers beat Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 55 runs in their Indian Premier League match at the Nehru Stadium in Kochi last night.

Modest total
Chasing what seemed to be a modest total of 130 runs, Kochi were embarrassingly bundled out for just 74 in 16.3 overs.

Given their terrible start ufffd they were 11 for six in four overs with Ishant claiming five wickets in two overs to reduce ufffd the Tuskers were never in the chase.

South African speedster Dale Steyn stunned the Tuskers with the first dismissal ufffd that of Brendon McCullum caught-behind by Kumar Sangakkara ufffd in as early as the fouirth ball of the Kochi innings.

Ishant then struck three times in his opening over ufffd first accounting for Parthiv Patel (caught-behind), then knowcking down the stumps of Raiphi Gomez as well as Brad Hodge.

Ishant on song
Ishant struck once again in his second over trapping Kedar Jadhav leg-before in front of the wicket. he ghot his fifth wicket ufffd that of Kochi skipperu00a0 Mahela Jayawardene ufffd caught-behind thereby reducing the hosts to 11/6.
Manpreet Gony dismissedu00a0 Thissara Perera caught in the covers by Cameron followed by leggie Amit Mishra claiming his first wicket ufffd that of Ravindra Jadeja caught at mid-wicket by Daniel Christian.

Steyn then came back to get his second by rattling the furniture of R Vinay Kumar following which he claimed the final Kochi wicket ufffd RP Singh edging the very next Steyn delivery onto his stumps.

Six ducks
There were as many as six ducks in the Kochi innings ufffd McCullum, Patel, Gomez, Hodge, Jadhav and RP Singh ufffd all failed to trouble the scorers

Earlier, R Vinay Kumar (three wickets) and RP Singh (two wickets) helped the Tuskers restrict the Chargers to 129/7.
u00a0
Ironically, it was Kochiu00a0 Tuskers Keralau00a0 captain Mahela Jayawardene who won the toss and chose to bowl first.

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