Deccan do it,the hard way

It had to be this way: from a hopeless position to a last-ball win; from the bottom of the table last year to winners this time around.

It had to be this way: from a hopeless position to a last-ball win; from the bottom of the table last year to winners this time around. The second edition of the Indian Premier League saw several twists and turns along its 37-day journey in South Africa,but no match swung from one side to the other as Sunday nights final. And at the end of six weeks,59 matches,1316 boundaries and 506 sixes,the Deccan Chargers stood alone at the top.

The Hyderabad franchise won IPLs second season with a close,six-run victory against Bangalore Royal Challengers a victory that seemed unlikely until very late in the piece.

Chasing a small 144 for a win,Bangalore started well enough,with Roelof van der Merwe doing the bulk of the scoring with some big hits in the power plays. But the introduction of Pragyan Ojha stemmed run-flow as Manish Pandey and Merwe went in quick succession. Despite that,they were comfortably placed at 69 for three at the 10-over mark

Then Rahul Dravid fell trying to play a cheeky sweep off Harmeet Singh,before Ross Taylor gifted his wicket away to Andrew Symonds. Virat Kohli,Mark Boucher and Praveen Kumar departed in quick succession as Harmeet and Symonds kept things tight.

Harmeet,who had added the wicket of Boucher to his kitty,took a stunning catch in the deep to dismiss Vinay Kumar as the equation came down to 15 off the last over with one wicket in hand.

Robin Uthappa tried a couple of cheeky clips against RP Singh but made hardly any contact and when the final delivery was heaved aimlessly towards mid-wicket,the Deccan players charged on to the outfield to celebrate the unlikeliest of victories.

Earlier in the evening,Deccan skipper Adam Gilchrist might have rued his decision to bat first as he fell to Anil Kumble in the very first over. Kumble utilised the combination of the two Kumars well Praveen getting the ball to come in and Vinay using his prodigious outswingers to good effect.

Lone effort

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The innings was held together by a committed Herschelle Gibbs,who scored an unbeaten 48-ball 53,but none of the other heavyweights played around him. A fifth-wicket partnership of 52,off 47 balls,between Rohit Sharma and Gibbs gave the innings momentum,but Kumble stayed in control of the situation,rotating his bowlers and not allowing the batsmen to go for the big shots.

The Bangalore team walked off the park with smiles on their faces the biggest one on Kumbles face. He had picked up four wickets for 16 runs in his four overs,and for all practical purposes,the match seemed to be won. In the end,however,it was Gilchrist who had the last laugh.