PUNE WARRIORS INDIA INNINGS
17th over: Pune 129 for 6. Pune's last hope Steven Smith has been dismissed by Theron. Trying to go for his fourth six, the Australian gets caught at long-on. But Mithun Manhas pulls one off to get his first six. 49 needed off 18 balls. It's been done before in this tournament but looks difficult with Mithun and Alfonso Thomas at the crease.
Steven Smith c Duminy b Theron 26 (13)
16th over: Pune 111 for 5. Another six by Smith and 10 runs off the over by Reddy. But still Pune can't meet the required run-rate, which is getting tougher with every delivery. Now 67 needed off 24 balls.
15th over: Pune 101 for 5. Clearly Steven Smith is Pune's last hope and he shows that by hitting Gony for a six over deep square leg. But still a tough ask with 77 runs required off 30 balls.
14th over: Pune 91 for 5. Double-wicket over by Reddy. And two big wickets, first he bowls Uthappa and then has Samuels caught at covers. The cherry on the top was just three runs in the over. 87 needed in six overs now. Looking difficult with no boundaries coming.
Marlon Samuels c Sangakkara b Ashish Reddy 3 (8)
Robin Uthappa b Ashish Reddy 29 (27)
13th over: Pune 88 for 3. Deccan are tightening the grip here and Theron is filling in nicely for Dale Steyn. His figures of 2-0-8-1 have stifled Pune, but seven wickets in hand give the hosts a license to go for the kill.
12th over: Pune 85 for 3. Finally a boundary for Pune after two quiet overs, and again behind the wickets as Uthappa dabs it past the third-man. But overall a good over for pune as Reddy limits it to just seven runs. 93 needed off 48 balls now.
11th over: Pune 78 for 3. Slight rebuilding needed by Pune, but the boundaries need to keep coming or else the required run-rate will go through the roof. Just five runs off that Mishra over.
10th over: Pune 73 for 3. Gony gets rid of Ganguly. After being dropped by Duminy at point on the first ball of the over, Ganguly swats at the wide fifth delivery that goes straight to short cover. Just two runs off that over.
Saurav Ganguly c sub (DJ Harris) b Gony 23 (20)
9th over: Pune 71 for 2. Runs are coming largely square of off the wicket or behind the wicketkeeper. First Ganguly sweeps Mishra to the deep square-leg boundary and then Uthappa beats the short fine-leg fielder with a glance that crosses the ropes. Pune looking healthy now.
8th over: Pune 58 for 2. Duminy is bowling a good, tight spell for his skipper despite nothing in the wickets column yet. After conceding a glanced four to Ganguly early in the over, the part-timer limits it to just five runs. Duminy's figures read 3-0-24-0.
7th over: Pune 53 for 2. Uthappa pulls off his first big shot, just about clears Gony at long-off for a six. However, Mishra comes back well to limit it to nine runs off the over. Strategic time-out.
6th over: Pune 44 for 2. Juan Theron strikes in his first over as Pandey chops it onto his stumps. After a steered four to third man, Pandey tries to repeat the stroke but this time bottom-edges it onto the stumps. Loose stroke.
Manish Pandey b Theron 21 (20)
5th over: Pune 39 for 1. Manpreet Gony is into the attack and begins well by keeping a check on the free-scoring Pandey. But Ganguly spoils it in the end with a signature straight six off the last ball. Vintage stuff that!
4th over: Pune 30 for 1. Having seen enough of the part-timer Duminy, Pandey launches himself into him, bringing up a six that just goes over the long-on fielder. Five more runs off the over make it a good for Pune.
3rd over: Pune 19 for 1. Ankit Sharma dismisses Ryder. After smacking Sharma for a four, Ryder holes out to short mid-wicket. Ganguly doesn't let the tempo drop, thouugh, and follows up with a boundary past the wicketkeeper.
Jesse Ryder c sub (Harris) b Ankit Sharma 7 (6)
2nd over: Pune 11 for no loss. No Dale Steyn in this match, so spin from the other end as well. JP Duminy has been pressed into service and has been taken for eight runs, including a boundary over mid-off by Manish Pandey.
1st over: Pune 3 for no loss. Deccan have opened with left-arm spinner Ankit Sharma, and Pune openers Manish Pandey and Jesse Ryder are trying to gauge his length and get their eye in for a start.
DECCAN CHARGERS INNINGS
20th over: Deccan 177 for 4. Another good over for Pune. Alfonso Thomas prevents any boundaries, but it is still a very healthy total. Pune will have to be at their best to win this one. But there is no Steyn there, and that's a big minus in the Deccan bowling attack.
19th over: Deccan 168 for 4. Top over bowled by Nehra. He has been like a pendulum this season. At times he hasn't been able to defend 21 runs in an over and at other times he bowls a penultimate over like this where he concedes just six runs.
18th over: Deccan 162 for 4. White dismissed for 78. He tries to loft Samuels over extra cover but has been caught by Thomas on the boundary. But his whirlwind knock off just 46 balls, including six fours and five sixes, has done the damage.
Cameron White c Thomas b Samuels 78 (46)
17th over: Deccan 151 for 3. White is going ballistic here. His fifth innings of the series, this time off Kumar, takes him to 78. Can he go on to make a century?
16th over: Deccan 141 for 3. Happy Hours time for White, not for Rahul Sharma though. The 19-run over reads 1, 1, 4, 6, 6, 1. Ominous signs for Pune as Deccan are within touching distance of 190.
15th over: Deccan 122 for 3. Cameron White is back in form with a half-century off just 35 balls. The Aussie brings up the landmark off a smashing straight drive off Alfonso Thomas. And those four byes off the last ball shows Pune are feeling the pressure now. If Deccan can keep wickets in hand, we are in for some fireworks in the last five overs.
14th over: Deccan 111 for 3. White and Duminy are now looking to put their foot on the accelerator. Samuels has been taken off for 12 runs in the over, including a six by White.
13th over: Deccan 99 for 3. Nehra has bowled a good, tight over here. Keeps the lid on White and Duminy with just five runs off the over.
12th over: Deccan 94 for 3. Sangakkara out to a pretty un-Sangakkara stroke. Rahul Sharma cleans him up after the Deccan skipper tries an across-the-line slog. But White launches a counter-attack soon after with two boundaries, one through the extra cover and the next one through the point boundary.
Kumar Sangakkara b Sharma 12 (14)
11th over: Deccan 83 for 2. Vintage Sangakkara! First he hits a length ball over extra cover for a four and then hits Kumar on the up for a couple over his head. An edgy four to square leg off White rounds off a profitable over for Deccan.
10th over: Deccan 71 for 2. Deccan look quite settled with Sangakkara and White at the crease. Another couple of overs and then we might see the big shots coming out.
9th over: Deccan 64 for 2. After a few tight overs, Cameron White has broken the shackles with that slog six over the mid-wicket boundary. Rahul Sharma is the bowler, whose figures have take a little bit of a hit after a miserly first over.
8th over: Deccan 58 for 2. Nehra has been brought back after that opening over where he leaked 16 runs. Looking visibly comfortable with fielders in the deep as Deccan re-build their innings after the loss of their openers.
7th over: Deccan 53 for 2. Rahul Sharma is into the attack as the field restrictions have been lifted. Starts off well, giving away just three runs.
6th over: Deccan 50 for 2: Buhuvaneshwar Kumar sends Patel back. The Powerplay has ended on a wicket-taking note for Pune. Parthiv tries a flick but hits it only as far as the deep square-leg fielder Mithun Manhas.
Parthiv Patel c Manhas b Kumar 24 (18)
5th over: Deccan 48 for 1. Another good over for Deccan. This time Thomas has been at the receiving end, conceding two boundaries in the over. First Patel glanced it off his pads and then White pulls a short ball to mid-wicket.
4th over: Deccan 39 for 1. Needless run out! Dhawan has committed a suicide here, stealing a cheeky single when they had already scored 10 runs in the over. This has been gift for Pune.
Shikhar Dhawan run out 16 (11)
3rd over: Deccan 29 for no loss. Marlon Samuels has replaced Ashish Nehar and has been welcomed with a huge six by Dhawan over long-on.
2nd over: Deccan 20 for no loss. Alfonso Thomas, the experienced T20 pro, has pulled things back by conceding just four runs. His variations in pace might be the ideal way to contain the batsmen on this run-laden track.
1st over: Deccan 16 for no loss. Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan have come out to open, and have welcomed Ashish Nehra with three boundaries, two by Patel and one by Dhawan. Must stay the pitch is looking full of runs, with the ball coming nicely onto the bat.
7:45 p.m. Yuvraj on air: "I just want to tell all the people going through this [cancer] to be tough and be strong. All my close friends came over to vist me. Anil Kumble was there, I met Sachin in London and even Ranvijay came to see me. I'm starting to feel better and my stamina is improving day by day, so hopefully I can start training soon. I can't really say when exactly I will be back to play cricket, but perhaps in 3-4 months I should be back.
7:30 p.m. DC win the toss and Sangakkara says they will bat. Ganguly says he would have bowled. So both the captains have got what they wanted. "What are we here for then?" was Robin Jackman's response to that.
Playing XIs:
Deccan Chargers: Kumar Sangakkara (capt), Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, Cameron White, Ishank Jaggi, Ankit Sharma, Ashish Reddy, Amit Mishra, Juan Theron, Manpreet Gony
Pune Warriors India: Jesse Ryder, Manish Pandey, Sourav Ganguly (capt), Robin Uthappa (wk), Steven Smith, Marlon Samuels, Mithun Manhas, Alfonso Thomas, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Rahul Sharma, Ashish Nehra
7:15 p.m. And guess who's here! Yuvraj Singh is huddling up with the team and this could be the biggest lift Pune could have got.
7:10 p.m. After two washouts in a row, IPL 5 is in need of an exciting encounter, and the setting can't be better here in Pune, with Sourav Ganguly trying to wit out Kumar Sangakkara, who will pull out all stocks to earn Deccan Chargers their first win this season.
With six wins, five losses and one washout, Deccan can only be termed lucky to have one point in their kitty. But they still have time to make up lost ground and stay in running for the play-offs. Meanwhile, Pune, despite an up and down ride, have eight points in their account. But Sourav Ganguly will want his team to hit the consistency curve as the tournament moves towards its business end.
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