Suman, Symonds star in Deccan's win
by Jinu Sabastian


Ground:M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore
Scorecard:Royal Challengers Bangalore v Deccan Chargers
Player:TL Suman, A Symonds, V Kohli, JH Kallis
Event:Indian Premier League 2009/10

DateLine: 8th April 2010

 

 

The Bangalore pitch had a tinge of green and that prompted Deccan skipper Adam Gilchrist to put the hosts in. Ryan Harris handling the new ball showed admirable control as he extracted movement both in the air and off the seam to leave the openers Pandey and Kallis groping. The batsmen on more than one occasion met thin air with the bat and finally Harris castled Pandey (1, 6b) with a sharp off-cutter which flattened the middle stump. Dravid (26, 25b, 1x6, 2x4) promoted up the order used this opportunity as he lashed out at the bowlers with the six of RP Singh over long-off being impressive. But poor shots from Dravid and Uthappa (2, 5b) brought Deccan back into the game.

 

But the biggest blow came in the eleventh over as the dangerous Taylor (1, 2b) was trapped leg before by Ojha as the hosts slipped to 68 for 4. Kallis and Kohli then took control of the innings as the pair looked to repair the damaged the innings. After 14 overs the score read 92 for 4 and from here Deccan's malady cropped up. In Deccan's previous match against Australia they bowled excellently to prevent the opposition from running away but today the story was different.

 

Kallis and Kohli went berserk as the bowlers ran out of ideas as they failed to bowl the yorkers or bouncers to contain the pair. The bowlers hemorrhaged runs as Bangalore doubled the runs after the six overs. Symonds who till his second over bowled well was taken apart in the 17th over while short balls at a 125 ks was too easy for Kallis. Though Kallis (68, 44b, 1x6, 9x4) and Kohli (58, 35, 4x6, 4x4) fell in pursuit of quick runs White (13 not out, 3b, 2x6) used the long handle to push the score to 184 in their 20 overs.

 

Deccan in pursuit attacked from the onset as the openers Gilchrist and Monish Mishra and tried to collect as many boundaries as possible in the powerplay. Mishra (9, 11b, 2x4) collected a couple of boundaries before Uthappa plucked a brilliant one-handed catch behind the stumps of Praveen Kumar. It seemed that Bangalore would register another win their home ground but that was not to be. Gilchrist and Suman added solidity to the innings as the pair never looked uncomfortable in their association.

 

After the first strategic time-out Gilchrist opened up and the Bangalore bowlers suffered. The retired Australian opener hammered a couple of sixes as Deccan raced to 50 for 1 in 10 overs before a perfectly bowled wrong-one from Kumble had Gilchrist (32, 19b, 2x6, 3x4) stumped a long way. Rohit Sharma (6, 5b) failed to keep his cover-drive down and it seemed that Deccan might choke once again. In strode Symonds as he set M Chinnaswamy Stadium ablaze with a stunning onslaught. The bowlers had no answer to his hitting and soon Suman joined the fun.

 

Deccan chased down the target in 19.2 overs to keep their slim chances of making into the semis open.