Deccan ride on captains charge

And for that,their multicultural fans todays home game was played at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack,Orissa will have to thank their captain for playing a much bigger hand in the game than the rivals in fact,the difference was exactly twice as much. Sangas 82 sky-rocketed DCs score to 186; Gangulys 41 ensured that Pune were always in the hunt,but just not quite. In the end,Pune lost by 13 runs to stay at seventh while DC gave their points column a 66 per cent boost at the bottom of the table.

While the win perhaps will not really help DC qualify for the knock-outs,it will however give Sangakkara a certain amount of satisfaction he at least contributed to half their victories this season. And it was a good time to come back into form,for as mentioned above,the Chargers innings was in tatters by the time he made his way into the middle.

At 23/2 in five overs DC were well under six an over,with both their openers back in the dug-out. By the half-way stage of the innings,Sangakkara and White had crawled to 12 and 20 respectively,taking the team total to 58/2 by the 10th over. It seemed to be going nowehere even by the start of 15th,as Deccan barely peeped over the bare minimumrun-rate of six an over 91/2 at 6.50. Then Samuels was reintroduced into the attack. Sangakkara drove the first ball over covers for four,clipped the next past third-man for four,stole a double off the third before clearing long-off and square-leg for two more boundaries.

The 19-run fifteenth over set the precedent,as he then hit Wayne Parnell for twin fours in the next over. When he couldnt get Ganguly away in the 18th,he passed the baton to White,who smashed the Pune skipper for three consecutive sixes,followed by another carpet-hugging four. Sanga joined in on the act in the penultimate,with two more towering maximums off Ashish Nehra. DC had made 95 in the last six,more than doubling their total in 36 balls.

The reply began with Pandey being caught by Sangakkara at mid-on,while Ankit nearly had a second as Ganguly was dropped by Ashish Reddy at the backward point area. Pune never really recovered from that start.

Ganguly caressed Dale Steyn for two boundaries in the fourth,before Michael Clarke,who made his seasons debut today,destroyed him for 17 in his next. He gave away a further 12 runs in the 18th,to return his worst figures this season 46 in four overs. But luckily for Sanga,it didnt matter too much in the end. ENS

Ganguly fined

Pune captain Sourav Ganguly has been fined after the team maintained a slow over rate. Warriors were found to be one and half overs behind the required rate after allowances were taken into consideration. Ganguly was fined US20 000,8221; the IPL media release stated.

Brief scores: Deccan 186/4 K Sangakkara 86,C White 74; B Kumar 1/22 beat Pune 173/5 S Smith 47 n.o.,S Ganguly 45; A Sharma 1/9 by 13 runs