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Yuvraj Singh-led Kings XI Punjab won a cliffhanger against Deccan Chargers on Sunday (May 17) and kept their semi-final hopes alive. Defending a modest total of 134 runs, Kings XI won the match by one run and the credit goes to Irfan Pathan who spoiled Deccan Chargers' party in the last over of the match. Earlier Punjab managed to score 134 runs in their allotted 20 overs after being sent to bat first by Deccan skipper Adam Gilchrist. The top scorer from Kings XI was Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara.
Sangakkara slammed 56 off 43 balls with four fours and a six while Yuvraj managed to garner 20 off 18 deliveries. Kings XI Punjab could not post a challenging total mainly because of the bad performances of the top order batsmen. Chasing a low total, Deccan Chargers got off to flyer with Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs firing from all cylinders. Spinner Ramesh Powar brought relief to Punjab camp by dismissing Gilly (23 off 13) and Tirumalsetti Suman (0) in successive deliveries of the fifth over.
After that it was Yuvraj Singh who claimed his second hat trick of the tournament by dismissing Herschelle Gibbs (26), Andrew Symonds (25) and Venugopal Rao (0). Yuvraj took the wicket of Gibbs in the last ball of the 12th over and then dismissed Symonds and Venugopal Rao in the first two balls of the 14th over. The Deccan Chargers were reduced to 79 for five. But the arrival of last match's hero Rohit Sharma began to turn things in favour of Deccan team. Needing 43 runs in last three overs, Rohit Sharma took 18 runs from Wilkin Mota's over, hitting two sixes and a four.
The fiery batting from Sharma reduced the deficit to 25 runs from 12 balls. In the 19th over, Sharma continued the assault and punished Bret Lee for another 14 runs. But Irfan Pathan turned the colour of the match by dismissing Rohit Sharma (43 off 26) in the third ball of the final over. Pathan also dismissed RP Singh in the same over and stopped Deccan Chargers just one run short of the victory target.
