DC shock for Bangalore

Running in from around 10 yards to bowl his military medium pace,Harmeet Singh wouldnt have been the obvious choice for most captains to bowl the penultimate over of a close game. That too when Robin Uthappa,who had smashed 21 off the previous over,was on strike. But Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist trusted Harmeet and the 22-year-old stuck two vital blows to turn the tide as Royal Challengers were pipped to the post. Chasing 152 for win,Bangalore fell short by 13 runs. The result meant the two teams are tied on 12 points with two games to go.

Harmeet didnt have a great start to his spell as he conceded 15 runs in his first over. While he gave away eight runs in the following two overs,his moment of truth came when Bangalore needed 18 from 12 balls and a rampaging Uthappa looking well set to knock Deccan out. But Harmeet clean bowled the joint highest six-hitter of the tournament,who scored a valiant 20-ball 34,with a ball that resembled a leg-spinners flipper. The next ball saw Steyn trapped lbw. Though he did miss out on making it a really spectacular night by failing to pick up a hat-trick,the youngster from Punjab conceded only a single run in the over.

Just like his teammate T Suman,IPL brings out the best in Harmeet. Incidentally,the pacer,who came to the fore for Deccan during the semi-final and the final last year,only played his first Ranji Trophy game for Punjab after the second edition of the IPL. But with 13 wickets at 32.53,he didnt make much of an impact in his first domestic season. But if it wasnt for his nerve-wracking penultimate over on Monday,the Chargers defence would well have been over. The champions major stars from their triumph last year,Pragyan Ojha and RP Singh,too played key roles by getting rid of Jacques Kallis,Ross Taylor and Cameron White.

Returning to the VCA Stadium,where he had left the Indian batsmen battered and bruised while championing a win by an innings for South Africa two months back,Steyn continued his love-affair with Nagpur earlier in the evening. The speedster got rid off Gilchrist and Suman in the opening over of the match,reducing the Chargers to 1/2,before getting through Herschelle Gibbss defenses. His 3/18 might have brought back memories of his lethal spell against the Indians,but it was Harmeet who had the last laugh.