Match Review of Kings XI Punjab vs. Deccan Chargers

Indian Premier League - Match review
Date : 21th May 2011 Match No. : 67
Teams : Kings XI Punjab vs. Deccan Chargers
Venue : H.P. C.A. Dharamsala
Umpires : Asad Rauf & A. Sahiba Third Umpire: S.L. Shastri
Toss : Kings XI Punjab won the toss and elected to Field

Playing XI

Kings XI Punjab Adam Gilchrist © Paul Valthaty Shaun Marsh Dinesh Karthik R. McLaren Abhishek Nayar Piyush Chawla Ryan Harris B.Bhatt Mandeep Singh Praveen Kumar

Deccan Chargers Cameron White © Shikhar Dhawan Ravi Teja J.P. Duminy Bharat Chipli Amit Mishra Dan Christian Dale Steyn P. Ojha K. Devdhar Anand Rajan

With four consecutive victories and couple of them against the top teams of this season, the Kings XI Punjab team's spirits must have been very high. They were to host the Deccan Chargers in a must win game for them to qualify for the play-off berth. Punjab would ensure their best performance in all departments as a loss here would mean a direct knock out. The Chargers who have nothing to lose have been playing fearless cricket and acting as spoilers for the competition.

The pitch at Dharamsala in the last few matches has proved to be an excellent batting track. The short boundary allows the batsmen to score at ease. The team winning the toss should elect to bat and put up a score above 170 to make it a challenging chase.

The coin once again landed in the favor of the Punjab skipper who decided to put the opposition to bat keeping the rain forecast factor in mind.

Put into bat the Chargers innings was opened by Shikhar Dhawan and Ravi Teja. In the beginning of the innings it looked that the pitch might offer some help to the fast bowlers but soon it turned out to be a fast alarm. Parveen Kumar was able to move the ball both ways but the track did not offer anything to pick wickets. Dhawan survived a run out chance in the 1st over itself and soon the other opener Teja was dropped by Valthaty.

Both the openers looked determined to make the most out their second lives. They both were very aggressive and started attacking the bowling of Parveen Kumar and Harris. Teja gave his side the required momentum which was later maintained all through the innings by Dhawan. Boundaries were being scored of every over and they maintained a run rate of over 9.

There was a high level of frustration in the Punjab's camp. As this partnership kept building there was a very negative body language that kept could be sensed and seen. Their safest known hands were dropping catches and missing hitting the stumps even from close distances. As the luck was not Punjab's way, Teja once again survived a run out chance in the 11th over when the 3rd umpire was not consulted under doubts. Both Dhawan and Teja were timing the ball well, finding the gaps easily and went ahead to put up a partnership of 131 runs in 80 balls.

Finally some moment of success for the home side when Valthaty got them their 1st breakthrough by removing one of the openers, Ravi Teja. Chargers were completely in control of the situation when they lost Teja after scoring 60 of 41 balls hitting five 4s and two sixes. Though Teja was back in the stands but still no respite for the Punjab team. The following batsmen Duminy and White put up smart partnerships with Dhawan who remained unbeaten at 95 of 47 deliveries hitting 14 boundaries and one 6. With some excellent batting displays the Chargers managed to put up a huge total of 198 runs.

The home side needed 199 runs to win which was definitely a tough chase. A run rate of near 10 an over was difficult but not unattainable keeping in mind their last few bating performances. The Punjab innings was opened by their regular openers Gilchrist and Valthaty. The pressure of chasing big targets is always huge and it showed up early in the Punjab innings when they lost Valthaty cheaply on 5 in the second over itself. Marsh, who has not failed in any innings of this tournament was the man to join his skipper.

The Deccan bowlers kept it very tight and did not give any extra room to the batsmen for hitting. The home side was scoring way under the required run rate and the pressure kept building. Soon they lost their second big wicket in the form of Marsh at a team total of just 22 runs. Defending a high total always gives the team a huge confidence and unlike Punjab, the chargers were sharp in the field taking every catch and stopping every possible ball.

Gilchrist and Karthik tried to stabilize the innings and put up a partnership of 71 runs. Soon it was brought to end by Christian who got the Skipper out after scoring 51 of 37 deliveries hitting six 4s and two 6s. It looked like the end of the road for the home side as their top 3 batsmen were back in the pavilion. It was a huge ask for rest of the batting line up as none of them has played a heroic innings in this tournament. Christian struck once again and took Karthik's wicket after just 11 runs. Punjab were now struggling at 84-4 in the 11th over.

The spinner Amit Mishra bowled an excellent spell. The middle order completely collapsed and could not stand by the Mishra's spin, who claimed a hat trick removing McLaren, Mandeep Singh and Harris cheaply. The rest of the batting did an effort to stick to the crease and play their quota of 20 overs but failed to do so as the home side was all out for just 116 runs in the 19th over.

A wrong choice to field first followed by a disappointing bowling & fielding display by the home side cost them this match and knocked them out of the tournament.

Result: Deccan Chargers won by 82 runs

The Awards

Man of the match
Shikhar Dhawan for scoring 95 in 57 balls

Maximum Sixes
Ravi Teja for hitting two 6's

Kingfisher Fair Play Award
Chennai Super Kings top the chart

Orange Cap (The leading run scorer)
Shaun Marsh, Kings XI Punjab.

Purple Cap (The leading wicket taker)
Lasith Mallinga- Mumbai Indians

Question of the day?
Should Kings XI Punjab go for more bowling options next season?



Last Updated on 23 May 2011