Deccan Chargers End Pune's Play-Off Challenge

Deccan Chargers End Pune's Play-Off Challenge

Kumar Sangakkara led his side to their second victory in a row in Mumbai

©REUTERS / Action Images

Deccan Chargers 138-4 (Sohal 34) beat
Pune Warriors 136-9 (Marsh 37) by 6 wickets
Indian Premier League 2011, Mumbai
Scorecard

The Pune Warriors' hopes of reaching the play-offs of the Indian Premier League 2011 are no more after they fell to a six-wicket defeat at the hands of the Deccan Chargers in Mumbai.

The win for the Chargers was their second in three days after they turned over Mumbai Indians but that run of form came too late for them as they cannot make it into the top four.

Batting first, Pune were held to 136 for nine having suffered a shocking batting collapse early on and in reply, the Chargers got home with four balls to spare although always appearing to be in control of the game.

Pune advanced to 31 without loss as Jesse Ryder (18) and Manish Pandey (23) played some aggressive strokes but thereafter their batting fell apart dramatically.

Ryder precipitated the demise when he drilled Dale Steyn to Dwaraka Ravi Teja at cover point before Sourav Ganguly disappointed the home fans who had turned out by limply chipping Daniel Christian to Pragyan Ojha without scoring.

Next go was Pandey, who cut Ojha onto his stumps and after Robin Uthappa (4) offered Amit Mishra a caught and bowled and Mithun Manhas was bowled by the same player, the scoreboard read 45 for five.

That they eventually got up to a reasonable score on a sticky pitch owed plenty to Mitchell Marsh, who hit three sixes in a knock of 37 in 28 balls and he was given sturdy support by Wayne Parnell, who made 16 in as many balls before the innings was wrapped up with Daniel Christian, Ojha and Mishra all taking two wickets.

Early wickets were badly needed by the Warriors but none were forthcoming as Sunny Sohal, battling cramp, hit 34 and Shikhar Dhawan 28 to put on 67 for the first wicket.

The breakthrough came when Dhawan was stumped off of Yuvraj Singh but out strode Kumar Sangakkara, whose typically elegant 25 in 21 balls kept the pressure o Pune, even with Sohal departing when he was trapped in front by promising leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.

Sangakkara then joined forces with fellow left-hander JP Duminy (23) to take Deccan to the brink. THey were both dismissed - Sangakkara caught behind and Duminy bowled - but Christian, unbeaten on 14, and Bharat Chipli, on two, completed the formalities with a miniumum of fuss.

© Cricket World 2011