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Dharamsala: Deccan Chargers produced a dominating performance both with the bat and the ball to thump Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association stadium in Dharamsala on Saturday.
Dharamsala isn't proving to be a lucky venue for Punjab. Last season, Chennai in a must win game sneaked through thanks to Dhoni. Today in a must win for the home side, they have wilted under the immense pressure and caved in. Once Gilly went, it all went downhill and Mishra helped himself to his 2nd hat-trick of the IPL.
People in Mumbai and Kolkata would be relieved. Punjab exit. Cannot make it 5 in a row. They tried gallantly to reach there, having won 4 in a row, but on the most important occasion they couldn't handle the heat.
Adam Gilchrist and Dinesh Karthik fell after giving Kings XI Punjab a brief recovery.
Gilchrist slammed a brilliant 51 runs of 37 balls with the help of 2 sixes and 6 fours.
Christian got rid of Gilchrist with a fuller length delivery as Kings XI captain got under it and looked to smack that one over extra cover, doesn't get the elevation, ends up hitting it straight to Cameron White.
Deccan Chargers bowlers struck early as Kings XI Punjab lost two early wickets.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan smashed a blistering unbeaten 95 and added 131-run for the first wicket with Dwarka Ravi Teja to guide Deccan Chargers to a mammoth 198 for two against Kings XI Punjab.
Dhawan's whirlwind knock, his highest score in IPL, came off just 57 balls and was adorned with one six and 14 fours.
He was well-supported by opener Ravi Teja (60, 41 balls, 5x4, 2x6) as they added the 131 runs in only 13.2 overs to lay the foundation for an imposing total.
The partnership was the highest for Chargers this IPL season for any wicket.
The Deccan 's downfall this season can be attributed to their poor show with the bat. Such has been their plight that the previous best this season was 92-run stand between Kumar Sangakkara and Sunny Sohal for the second wicket.
Chargers got off to a solid start with Teja and Dhawan adding 58 runs in the first six overs, much to the delight of stand-in skipper Cameron White, who is donning the captain's hat in the absence of regular skipper Sangakkara.
Teja cashed in on three dropped chances to notch up his highest-ever IPL score.
In the first over, Praveen got the ball to straighten outside off from short of length and Teja top-edged the pull just over square-leg but Paul Valthaty made a real mess of it as he failed to latch onto the ball.
In the ninth over, Piyush Chawla gave Teja his second successive reprieve, dropping him off his own bowling. The opener went down the track and drilled it hard to left of Chawla who went with both hands but it burst through his palms.
In the 12th over, Teja was dropped by Ryan Harris off Valthaty at mid-on.
Punjab, for the first four overs managed to keep the Deccan openers quiet with occassional boundaries, but Dhawan broke the deadlock in the fifth over bowled by Praveen to hit him for successive boundaries.
Dhawan then hit Harris for couple of fours in the next over to take the team's total past 50-run mark.
Teja soon followed suit and hit leg-spinner Chawla for two boundaries in his first over to put Chargers on top before the first strategic time out in their last league game of the season 4.
Both the openers were on song and reduced Punjab bowlers to mere pedestrians with their brutal hitting. Teja was more attacking of the two as he hit Ryan McLaren for three fours in the 11th over to bring up the 100 for the Chargers.
In the 13th over, he hit Chawla for two consecutive sixes and a four to bring his 50.
In the end, Valthaty got the prized wicket of Teja, who was caught by Abhishek Nayar at deep midwicket.
Next-man in, Jean-Paul Duminy (15) then joined forces with Dhawan and took the team total past 150-run mark. Dhawan continued with his attacking streak and treated the Punjab spin duo of Chawla and Bhatt with disdain, clobbering them for fours and sixes.
Duminy was caught by Shaun Marsh off Ryan Harris at mid-off in his bid to clear the ball.
Dhawan and skipper White (15) then took the total near 200-run mark.
Brief scores
Deccan Chargers 198 for 2 (Dhawan 95, Ravi Teja 60)
Kings XI Punjab 116 (Gilchrist 51, Mishra 4-9)
Results Deccan Chargers won by 82 runs
MOM Shikhar Dhawan (Deccan Chargers)
Points Deccan Chargers 2, Kings XI Punjab 0
