IPL Cricket

Deccan Chargers – winners of IPL 2009, have to win their last 5 games to stand any chance of qualifying for the top 4 play – offs after their dismal performance against KKR. Drop catches and unplanned batting cost them the match in which they were in the hunt for more than half of the contest until Pathan smashed the ball in the last few overs. DC, one felt always had the potential to chase down 150 but the score was propelled to 170 thanks to some big hits and poor catching.

Deccan Chargers dropped too many catches in the first half of the game to allow Kolkata Knight Riders to motor along to 169, and then dropped intensity alarmingly in the chase to succumb to their sixth defeat in nine games. Yusuf Pathan was the biggest beneficiary of Deccan’s fielding largesse, surviving three clangers to pummel his way to his highest score of the season. His assault yielded 47 off 26 balls, and he helped Kolkata double their score in the last eight overs in Manoj Tiwary’s company.

Sangakkara missed a trick by holding Dale Steyn’s second spell back until the 16th over. Yusuf had got his eye in by then, and the fact that Tiwary faced that entire over did not help Deccan’s cause. Tiwary looted two off-side fours off Steyn, before Yusuf thumped Ishant Sharma for a massive six over long-on. By the time Dhawan grassed Yusuf again in the 19th over, Deccan were in damage-control mode, and doing a poor job at it. Tiwary launched Christian for six more, before Yusuf fore-handed Ishant and whipped Steyn for boundaries to ensure Kolkata finished with a bang.

The batting order of the DC has to be changed. The pattern as of now is the 4 foreign players (Sanga, White, Christian, Duminy (when he plays)) are coming one after the other and they fall in quick succession most of the times. As a result, the big 4 cannot capitalize on the starts given by Sunny Sohail. Sohail has to bat with his head down and must not try to hit all the balls to the boundary. His poor shot against Chennai (when DC was almost 80 of 8 overs) opened the flood gates which ultimately led to the loss.

DC needs to change its batting order and tighten their bowling and fielding to come back to winning ways. It is interesting to note that DC has not won back to back matches in IPL 2011 and winning the next 5 out of 5 will be very tough but not impossible!

Tags: DC, Deccan Chargers, Fielding Largesse, Indian Premier League, IPL, IPL 2011, IPL 4, KKR, Kolkata Knight Riders, Propelled