Ishant Sharma

Ishant Sharma’s mighty bowling spell finally gave the Deccan Chargers a much-required lifeline to stay in the IPL. He almost single-handedly transferred the Hyderabad side from a losing position to a highly delightful win over Kochi Tuskers Kerala at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.

Also Read: Ishant Wrecks Carnage In Kochi

Just like the rival bowlers had spelt gloom on his team earlier that day, the lanky fast bowler was simply irresistible as plundered the Tuskers top-order from wherein the local side found no way to retrieve itself. He finished with figures of five wickets for 12 runs while Steyn returned with a three wicket haul giving away only 16 runs.

The target of 130 was something like Mount Everest to climb for Kochi Tuskers all of a sudden — or precisely within the first two overs. And the struggling Ishant Sharma suddenly regained his lost form at the perfect nick of the time and became a nightmare for the top order. This pushed the local side up against the wall as they lost three wickets in Sharma’s first over itself. He got Parthiv Patel caught by Sangakkara, clean bowled Raiphy Vicent Gomez in the next ball and then breached Brad Hodge’s defense in the fifth ball of the brilliant over. Brendon McCullum too was dismissed by Dale Steyn in the first over as he was caught behind after fishing out to an outgoing delivery.

Then it was Kedar Jadha who was trapped by Ishant and the batsman plumbed in front with a delivery which straightened. He then completed his five-wicket haul capturing the prized wicket of Mahela Jayawardene off the last ball of his second over; the Sri Lankan picked up an edge off a climbing delivery and sadly guided the ball to the gloves of Sangakkara behind.

After the seamers from Kochi restricted Hyderabad to 129 for 7, it was a miserable 11 for six, and all Kochi could sum up was a paltry 74 on the scoreboard, losing by a huge 55 run margin at 16.3 overs.

There was cheer in the Kochi Tuskers camp but that was like counting the chickens too early! And the local side was simply blown away by that terrific opening spell from Ishant Sharma. At the end a well deserved Man of the Match and even better that Ishant is back in his dangerous form!

Tags: Cricket, DC, Deccan Chargers, Indian Premier League, Indian Team, IPL, Ishant Sharma, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, KTK