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Ganguly's heroics go in vain as DC clinch thriller
It was a match worth treasuring for moments which are hard to come by. Somshuvra Laha reports. Scorecard | What home support? | The doosra
It was a match worth treasuring for moments which are hard to come by.
It is not every day that you have first-ball dismissals in both innings of a T20 match but Parthiv Patel and Manish Pandey made that happen. Sourav Ganguly took a little trip down memory lane, going after the raw pace of Dale Steyn before making a meal of the slow bowlers Deccan Chargers threw at him.
But bowling an over too many might have cost Pune Warriors two points.
"Those two overs cost us the match," conceded Ganguly, referring to the two overs bowled by Ashish Nehra and him that went for 25 runs each at the death of the Deccan Chargers innings.
But Deccan Chargers won't mind. It was one of those days when everything went their way, right from the 157-run partnership for the third wicket between Kumar Sangakkara and Cameron White to having faith in the young Veer Pratap Singh in the final over.
Pitching it perfect
It was as if Sangakkara had been waiting for this particular pitch, after he sat out against Mumbai Indians on a lively Wankhede strip on Sunday.
Despite an early wobble, Sangakkara played himself in and then finally went for bust in the last six overs.
From 91 for two after 14 overs to 186 for four, it was a story of ball not landing in the right places and the bat going into overdrive. Marlon Samuels kicked off the windfall when Sangakkara thrashed him for four boundaries.
But the best for reserved for Ganguly and Nehra. White went aerial with the former India captain, hoicking him for three consecutive sixes in the 18th over before settling for a four off the final ball.
Next over, Nehra just kept feeding full tosses to Sangakkara, who was more than happy to dispatch them over square-leg.
Hunter to hunted
The 157-run partnership, the highest for any wicket this IPL season, gave Deccan Chargers their second highest total this year but the way Sourav Ganguly made merry off Dale Styen changed the game on its head.
Not every day would you see Steyn spanked all over the park. Ganguly first pulled him over midwicket before creaming the South Africa pacer through cover with his signature drive.
With Michael Clarke on the other side, Pune Warriors were in with a chance but could not cash in on the initial momentum. Asked if they were a little slow off the blocks, the Warriors spinner Murali Kartik said: "I don't think so.
At that point of time, we needed a partnership." But consecutive dismissals of Ganguly and Clarke put paid to the chase despite a brave unbeaten 47 by Steven Smith.
