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New Delhi: Pragyan Ojha and Harmeet Singh took 2 wickets each as Deccan Chargers beat Delhi Daredevils by 11 runs to reach the semifinals of IPL 3.
Hyderabad have beaten Delhi in this nail-biting encounter to reserve a berth in the semis. Given a target of 145, disaster struck when Delhi lost their first wicket in the 2nd over. They then lost a few quick wickets to bring Hyderabad right back into the game.
Manhas fought back well to score 23 off 22 before getting run-out unluckily. Collingwood then led the chase and hit some mighty blows in the end to score 51 (not out) off 42 balls but they fell short by 11 runs.
For DC Ojha had a magnificent time with the ball scalping 2 for 16 off 4 overs. Harmeet suported him well with 2 for 41 off his 4 overs. But it was mainly the brilliant catches by Rohit Sharma that turned the tide in Hyderabad's favour. This win ousts Delhi from this edition of the tournament and puts Hyderabad in the coveted 2nd place and they qualify for the semis.
Earlier, Symonds reserved all his aggression for Amit Mishra. It was a fine battle because Mishra troubled him with his googlies, which Symonds picked only off the pitch, but he would time and again counterattack with a muscled hit. He moved down the track to lift a leg break over long-off, followed it by biffing a googly into the same stand
He crashed Tillakaratne Dilshan's offbreaks for two sixes and even played a delicate late cut against Paul Collingwood to collect a boundary. Deccan had reached 116 for 4 in the 15th over and things were set for a final assault when Symonds fell. Mishra had just switched to bowling from round the stumps to Symonds and had his man chipping straight to long off.
Delhi applied the squeeze from then on, just as they had done in the first half of the game, but the total proved beyond their reach.
Andrew Symonds bagged the Man of the Match award for his prolific all-round display.
Deccan Charges skipper Adam Gilchrist said the bowlers showed great character tonight. They had good belief when they needed to win 5 out of their last 5 games. He also said that everyone is chipping in at different times.
Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir said whenever they chased they lost early wickets and were hoping it would not happen today. They needed to win 2 out of 5 games and ended up losing 4 out of 5. They need more consistency.
Andrew Symonds got the maximum sixes award and Rohit Sharma received the best catch award, he took three Karbon Kamal catches today.
Brief scores
Deccan Chargers 145 for 7 (Symonds 54)
Delhi Daredevils 134 for 7 (Collingwood 51*)
Result Deccan Chargers won by 11 runs
MOM Andrew Symonds (Deccan Chargers)
