Gilchrist blasts Deccan to shock win

Adam Gilchrist blasted a 17-ball half-century and led the Deccan Chargers to a shock win over the Delhi Daredevils in the first Indian Premier League semi-final at Centurion Park on Friday.
Gilchrist finished with 85 off 35 balls, hitting five sixes and ten fours, as the Hyderabad-based Chargers stormed to a six-wicket victory against the tournament favourites with 2.2 overs to spare.
It was the first time in five matches that Deccan had been able to beat Delhi, who posted 153 for eight after being sent in.
That target soon looked easy as Gilchrist went on the rampage, hitting the fastest half-century in the IPL's short history.
Gilchrist hit five successive boundaries off fellow-Australian Dirk Nannes in the first over of the Deccan innings.
Herschelle Gibbs was bowled playing a reckless shot against Ashish Nehra in the next over but Gilchrist continued his assault, hitting 15 off an over from Pradeep Sangwan, then 13 off Nehra as the total raced to 56 off four overs.
Tillekeratne Dilshan managed an economical over of off-spin, conceding only three runs but Delhi skipper Virender Sehwag was smashed for 25 runs in his only over, including three successive sixes by Gilchrist, one from a free hit following a no-ball.
Gilchrist was third man out when he top-edged an attempted big hit against leg-spinner Amit Mishra to backward point off the last ball of the tenth over with the total on 102. Amid the carnage handed out to the other bowlers, Mishra took three for 19 in his four overs.
Deccan made a great start when Ryan Harris dismissed both Delhi opening batsmen for no runs in the first over.
But Sehwag (39) and Dilshan (65) counter-attacked in a third wicket stand of 85 and Delhi were on target for a challenging total before they lost four wickets for eight runs off the last seven balls of the innings.
Harris finished with three for 27.
Delhi finished top of the log in the round robin stage, winning ten of their 14 matches, while Deccan scraped into fourth place with seven wins and seven losses.

Punjab remain in IPL hunt with upset win over Delhi

Kings XI Punjab stunned leaders Delhi Daredevils with a six-wicket victory in their Indian Premier League match here on Friday to keep their semi-finals hopes alive.
After Punjab bowlers had restricted Delhi to 120-9, Kumar Sangakkara hit an unbeaten 43 to guide his side to a thrilling win with five balls to spare.
Punjab nearly made a mess of the chase, losing their top three wickets for 35 runs before Sangakkara put the innings back on track with a 53-run stand for the fourth wicket with Yuvraj Singh.
Yuvraj (18) was dismissed with the side still needing 33 to win from 26 balls but Irfan Pathan kept his cool, hitting three sixes en route his unbeaten 21 to take his team home in their must-win tie.
Erratic Farveez Mahroof, playing his first match of the tournament, took a wicket off his first ball to finish with 2-29 while left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra conceded just six runs off his four overs while picking one wicket.
Delhi, who lead the eight-team tournament, can still make the semis even if they don't win any of their remaining three games.
Delhi have 16 points from 11 matches, followed by Chennai (13/11), Rajasthan (13/12), Deccan (12/11), Bangalore (12/12), Mumbai (11/12), Punjab (12/12) and Kolkata (3/11).
Delhi were off to a poor start with swashbuckling openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag being sent back cheaply inside the first four overs.
Paceman Brett Lee was the most impressive bowler with 3-15 off four overs, for which he was named man of the match, while Pathan and Santhakumaran Shreesanth chipped in with two wickets each.
Dinesh Karthik top-scored with 32 and shared a 50-run stand with Mithun Manhas to lend some respectability to the total.

Delhi survive Gilchrist blitz

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist smashed a rapid-fire half-century, but failed to stop Delhi Daredevils from posting a 12-run win in an Indian Premier League match here on Wednesday.
Delhi scored 173-7 before restricting Deccan to 161 despite Gilchrist's 33-ball 64 to boost their chances of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Delhi lead the eight-team competition with 16 points from 10 matches, followed by Chennai (13/10), Deccan (12/11), Mumbai (11/11), Rajasthan (11/11), Bangalore (10/11), Punjab (10/11) and Kolkata (3/11).
The top four sides will advance to the semi-finals.
Gilchrist went for his shots from the beginning, hitting seamer Ashish Nehra for four boundaries in the opening over. He cracked five sixes and as many fours before inside-edging seamer Pradeep Sangwan's delivery on to his stumps.
Andrew Symonds kept the momentum with a 22-ball 41 before seamer Rajat Bhatia (4-15) triggered a dramatic collapse which saw Deccan lose their last seven wickets for just 12 runs.
Dinesh Karthik earlier helped Delhi set a stiff target with a 23-ball 44 not out, including 18 runs off the last five deliveries from Sri Lankan paceman Chaminda Vaas.
Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshan set the pace, plundering 24 runs in an over from paceman Shoaib Ahmed. He cracked one six and seven fours in his 18-ball 37 before being caught by Ravi Teja in the deep off Symonds.
South African AB de Villiers kept the scoreboard moving after Dilshan's dismissal, scoring a 36-ball 44.

Delhi crush Kolkata and regain top spot

The Delhi Daredevils bowlers paved the way for a seven-wicket Indian Premier League thumping of strugglers Kolkata Knight Riders Sunday as they reclaimed top spot in the table.
Kolkata were restricted to 123-8 at chilly Wanderers after they lost the toss and were sent in to bat and Delhi cruised home, reaching 125-3 with 17 balls to spare.
Openers David Warner, who made 36 off 23 balls, and 18-run Gautam Gambhir got Delhi off to a good start in the chase with a 53-run first-wicket partnership.
While Gambhir, Warner and Tillakaratne Dilshan were removed within three overs, South African AB de Villiers and Dinesh Karthik combined to carry them home.
The pair put on an unbroken 56 runs for the fourth wicket with De Villiers making 40 from 32 deliveries and Karthik contributing 17.
Earlier, Ashish Nehra had struck twice in Kolkata?s first over, and in the second Australian Dirk Nannes removed South African Morne van Wyk to leave them struggling at 9-3.
Opener Sourav Ganguly and Yashpal Singh forged a 36-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but Amit Mishra sent Singh packing in the eighth over and three balls later added the wicket of Wriddhiman Saha to break Kolkata?s momentum.
Ganguly, who made 44 runs off 45 balls, stuck around to anchor the innings, but was removed by Nannes in the 17th over.
Ajit Agarkar, dropped by Rajat Ghatia off his own bowling on 21, contributed 39 off 29 deliveries.
He was removed with the last ball of the innings after sharing a stubborn 40-run stand with Murali Kartik.
Mishra was the pick of the Delhi attack, returning 3-14 while Nannes and Nehra claimed two wickets each.

Gambhir half century takes Delhi to the top

A half-century from stand-in skipper Gautam Gambhir led Delhi Daredevils to the top of the Indian Premier League table with a nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.
Gambhir's measured innings of 71 not out eased Delhi to their target of 155 with one over to spare, although he did enjoy some luck after being dropped by Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum on 21 and was given not out after being caught behind just short of his half-century.
David Warner's quickfire innings of 36 from 23 deliveries got the Daredevils off to a flying start and eased the pressure on his team-mates, allowing Gambhir and Tillakaratne Dilshan (42 not out) to ride home.
Gambhir has struggled for IPL form, but was pleased to finally register a good innings.
"I am not spotting the ball well, but was happy I batted through," he said. "We discussed that someone had to finish the job, and with two batsmen set we managed to do that."
It was Kolkata's seventh loss from nine matches, and they rued some poor fielding with a number of dropped catches and unnecessary boundaries after their batsmen set a reasonable total.
McCullum finally found form to record a speedy 35, but it was fellow opener Morne van Wyk who really sparkled with 74 from just 48 balls.
The South African hit 11 fours, but was at times starved of the strike by a struggling middle order as the innings tailed away and ended with a total that was a shade under par.
"I thought probably another 20 on top would have been good, but the way they chased them down was thoroughly professional," conceded McCullum.
Defeat leaves Kolkata rooted to the bottom of the table with just three points.

Jakati spins Chennai to victory

Left-arm slow bowler Shadap Jakati spun the Chennai Super Kings back into contention in the Indian Premier League with an 18-run win over the Delhi Daredevils at the Wanderers Stadium Saturday.
David Warner (51) and Dinesh Karthik (52) took Delhi within sight of overhauling a disappointing Chennai total of 163 all out on the best batting pitch of the tournament so far.
Warner was making his IPL debut because regular Delhi captain Virender Sehwag needed four stitches in his left hand after trying to take a catch in his team's win against the Deccan Chargers Thursday.
But both men fell to Jakati and Delhi limped to 145 for eight. Jakati took four for 24.
The win lifted Chennai, last year's beaten finalists, from seventh to fifth on the log.
Chennai seemed set for a big total when they hurried to 112 for two in the 13th over with Matthew Hayden (30), Suresh Raina (32) and Subramanian Badrinath (45) all scoring comfortably at better than a run a ball on a true, hard pitch.
Raina and Badrinath were dismissed in the 13th and 15th overs respectively, bringing the Chennai side's big hitters, Albie Morkel and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, together.
Instead of a burst of scoring in the closing overs, left-arm fast bowlers Dirk Nannes and Ashish Nehra ploughed through the middle and lower order batting.
Morkel fell to Nehra for six and Dhoni to Nannes for the same score.
Both bowlers took three for 27.
Delhi were rocked by fast bowler Sudeep Tyagi, 21, who dismissed stand-in captain Gautam Gambhir and AB de Villiers with successive deliveries with the total on 20. Gambhir fell to a reflex catch by Raina at short cover, while De Villiers was bowled by a ball which straightened between bat and pad.
Jakati bowled Tillekeratne Dilshan with a superb delivery before Warner and Karthik came together in a fourth wicket stand of 74.
But Warner took a wild swing at a ball from Jakati and was stumped in the 16th over to start a Delhi collapse.

Undefeated Pathan powers Rajasthan to IPL victory

Yusuf Pathan was the 62-run hero on Tuesday as title holders Rajasthan Royals defeated Delhi Daredevils by five wickets in an Indian Premier League thriller.
Although a Delhi team boasting a perfect record from three outings made only a modest 143-7 in their 20 overs at Centurion Park, they held a slender edge until the closing overs of the Rajasthan innings.
Pathan hit consecutive sixes in the 13th over, repeated the feat five later and hit the boundary that lifted Rajasthan to 147-5 in 18.3 overs and their second victory in five outings.
In trouble at 64-5 when captain and Australia legend Shane Warne was an unhappy stumping victim for a duck, Royals deperately needed saviours and found them in Pathan and South Africa captain Graeme Smith.
Quickfire Pathan struck six sixes and three fours in his 30-ball spell at the crease while the unbeaten 44 of the more cautious Smith included five fours.
Ashish Mishra was easily the most successful Delhi bowler with 3-34 in four overs while no one suffered more than New Zealand veteran Daniel Vettori, who conceded 32 runs in 12 balls.
Winning the toss and opting to bat, Delhi lost the wickets of openers Gautam Gambhir (8) and Virender Sehwag (16) to Dimitri Mascarenhas in the third over and were indebted to South African AB de Villiers.
He struck one six and five fours off 40 balls at his provincial home ground before being trapped leg before by Warne having completed his half century in perfect conditions on a wicket expected to yield more runs.
Manuf Patel (2-14) returned the most impressive figures in the Rajasthan attack with Mascarenhas (2-28) and inspirational leader Warne (2-32) also making significant contributions.

Vettori shines as Delhi win shortened game

New Zealand left-arm spinner Daniel Vettori took three for 15 as the Delhi Daredevils won a rain-shortened Indian Premier League match against Kings XI Punjab by ten wickets at Newlands Sunday.
Vettori's bowling was mainly responsible for restricting the Kings XI to 104 for seven in 12 overs in an overs-reduced game after rain delayed the start by more than an hour and a half.
Indian opening batsmen Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir made a revised target of 54 in six overs look easy, with Sehwag finishing the match with his fourth six in an innings of 38 not out off 16 balls.
Punjab made a flying start, reaching 67 before losing their first wicket off the last ball of the sixth over when Vettori caught Karan Goel at mid-on of Yo Mahesh.
Goel hit 38 off 21 balls with three fours and three sixes, including a massive hit off Mahesh which sailed out of the ground beyond mid-wicket.
Vettori came on to bowl the next over after the mid-innings break and trapped Ravi Bopara (22) leg before with his first delivery.
The Punjab innings never regained momentum as Vettori took two more wickets in his three-over spell and two run-outs contributed to the collapse.
"I think spinners are going to play a huge part in the tournament," said man of the match Vettori, referring to good performances by Mumbai's Harbhajan Singh, Rajasthan's Shane Warne and Bangalore's Anil Kumble Saturday on the first day of a double header opening weekend.
"Spinners have adapted as quickly as anyone in the Twenty20 game."
Sehwag and Gambhir reached 24 in 1.5 overs before rain halted play. The revised target meant they needed only another 30 runs off 4.1 overs.