The Hindu : Sport : Comfortable victory for Deccan Chargers

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Comfortable victory for Deccan Chargers

— PHOTO: AFP

MOMENT TO CHERISH: Deccan Chargers’ Rohit Sharma (left) pats teammate Herschelle Gibbs after their facile victory over Kolkata Knight Riders.

CAPE TOWN: Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma guided the Deccan Chargers to a comfortable eight-wicket win over the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League at Newlands on Sunday.

Gibbs was unbeaten on 43 and Sharma 36 after Deccan had earlier bowled out Kolkata for 101.

Gilchrist goes early

Deccan lost opener and captain Adam Gilchrist (13) in the second over after he skied a shot to Moises Henriques off the bowling of Ashok Dinda.

The only other wicket to fall was VVS Laxman (10), who was run out by Laxmi Kanth Shukla’s throw to captain Brendon McCullum.

But after that Gibbs and Sharma took over.

Gibbs stroked five fours and one six, while Sharma hit three fours and two sixes.

Pace bowler Rudra Pratap Singh took the man-of-the-match award after taking 4 for 22, but Deccan’s Gilchrist also singled out Gibbs and Sharma.

“Herschelle and Rohit were very professional today,” Gilchrist said. “It gives confidence to the whole group.

“It’s an ideal start. We had that kind of intensity in training and the guys bought into it. The challenge for us is to maintain that standard.”

“To lose our top three in the fashion we did was very disappointing,” McCullum said.

“It’s tough for bowlers when you have 100 runs on the board to defend. I’m disappointed we did not give them a big enough total to defend.”

The opening weekend of fixtures produced victories for three of last season’s worst performing franchises with Mumbai Indians, Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers all victorious after finishing in the bottom four last year.

Champion Rajasthan Royals is bottom of the table after losing to Bangalore on Saturday.

The second edition of the IPL was moved out of India due to security concerns and logical issues surrounding the general elections in the country. — AP

SCOREBOARD

Kolkata Knight Riders: B. McCullum c Gilchrist b R.P.Singh 1, C. Gayle c Harmeet Singh b R.P.Singh 10, S. Ganguly c Laxman b Harmeet Singh 1, B. Hodge c Gibbs b Styris 31, A. Chopra st Gilchrist b Ojha 11, L. Shukla st Gilchrist b Ojha 8, M. Henriques c Sharma b Styris 6, A. Agarkar (run out) 7, M. Kartik (not out) 10, I. Sharma b R.P. Singh 9, A. Dinda b R.P. Singh 2. Extras (lb-4, w-1): 5. Total (19.4 overs): 101.

Fall of wickets: 1-1 2-12 3-16 4-34 5-48 6-72 7-73 8-81 9-99 10-101.

Deccan Chargers bowling: Edwards 4-1-6-0, R.P. Singh 3.4-0-22-4, Harmeet Singh 4-0-23-1, Ojha 4-0- 14-2, Styris 4-0-32-2.

Deccan Chargers: A. Gilchrist c Henriques b Dinda 13,H. Gibbs (not out) 43, VVS Laxman (run out) 10, R. Sharma (not out) 36. Extras (b-1, w-1): 2. Total (for two wickets, 13.1 overs) 104.

Fall of wickets: 1-24 2-35 Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 3-0-24-1, Sharma 3-0-13-0, Kartik 4-0-23-0, Ganguly 1-0-8-0, Agarkar 1-0-17-0, Gayle 1-0-14-0, Henriques 0.1-0-4-0.

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