T&T blast rocks Hyderabad

It’s home bitter home for Deccan Chargers. Out of the nine matches the team has played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here, they haven’t won a single match. On October 23, when Hyderabad is scheduled to host the final, the Chargers will not be there.

The jinx continued as the defending Indian Premier League champions were knocked out of the Champions League Twenty20.  At the Uppal stadium here on Wednesday night, Adam Gilchrist & Co lost their must-win game to Trinidad & Tobago by four wickets, thereby bowing out of the competition.

Chasing a none-too-difficult target of 150, the Chargers ended up 146 for nine, losing by three runs despite some fine batting by skipper Gilchrist. The Aussie scored 51 but he had no one to back his effort. Y Venugopal Rao provided a late burst with a couple of sixes and fours but his dismissal ended Chargers’ hopes. He made a futile 30 off 19 balls.

Earlier, Chargers were listless in their attack but they managed to restrict Trinidad & Tobago to 149 for 7.  T&T’s total could have been much less but for Chargers’ poor bowling initially.

The T&T batsmen were too irresponsible in their batting, trying to hit everything that was hurled at them. They were also lucky that some edges missed fielders and fetched them boundaries.

For the Caribbeans, William Perkins was the standout batsman, hammering 38 off just 32 balls with six fours. His effort was well complimented by Keiron Pollard who bludgeoned the Chargers bowlers into submission with a six-hitting spree. He went over the fence four times during his 14 ball stay before being castled by Fidel Edwards. He scored 14 for amazing strike rate of 221.42.

Edwards was undoubtedly the pick of Deccan bowlers finishing   with figures of 3 for 32.
RP Singh, the other new-ball bowler was restrictive but not incisive. The left-arm medium-pacer gave away 22 runs in his four overs but Gilchrist would have expected a wicket or two from him. The India bowler, in contention for a berth in the Australia series, would have done well for himself with a wicket or two.

It was the same story with Pragyan Ojha. The left-arm spinner, from whom Gilchrist expects a lot, failed to deliver in the crucial match. He should have been the trump card for the Deccan Chargers but he was an also ran. He conceded 28 runs without taking a wicket in his quota of overs. West Indies, not the most comfortable lot against spin, tackled him well.

SCOREBOARD
Trinidad & Tobago: L Simmons lbw b Edwards 7, W Perkins lbw b Edwards 38, D Bravo c & b Suman 14, D Ganga run out (Symonds) 0, D Bravo run out (Suman) 11, D Ramdin st Gilchrist b Symonds 15, K Pollard b Edwards 31,
S Ganga not out 13, D Mohammed not out 2
Extras: (LB8, W6, NB4) 18
Total: (7 wickets; 20 overs) 149 (7.45 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-19, 2-53, 3-53, 4-83, 5-92, 6-125, 7-135
Bowling: F Edwards 4-0-32-3 (3W), RP Singh 4-0-22-0 (3NB, 3W), S Styris 1-0-10-0, T Suman 3-0-24-1, A Symonds 4-0-25-1, P Ojha 4-0-28-0
Deccan Chargers: AC Gilchrist c Pollard b Simmons 51, VVS Laxman lbw b DJ Bravo 4, Abhinav Kumar c Ramdin b DJ Bravo 1, A Symonds run out (Simmons/Ramdin) 2, R Sharma c DJ Bravo b Badree 25, S Styris run out (D Ganga/Ramdin) 14, YV Rao c Ramdin b Rampaul 30, T Suman not out 9, RP Singh b DJ Bravo 5, F Edwards run out (DJ Bravo) 0, P Ojha not out 0
Extras: (LB1, W3, NB1) 5
Total: (9 wickets; 20 overs) 146 (7.30 runs per over)
Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-23, 3-30, 4-85, 5-86, 6-125, 7-137, 8-145,
9-145; Bowling: R Rampaul 4-0-29-1 (1nb, 1w) D Bravo 4-0-24-3, S Ganga 2-0-17-0, K Pollard 1-0-13-0 (1w), D Mohammed 3-0-21-0, S Badree 3-0-25-1, L Simmons 3-0-16-1 (1w).