IPL Season 2 : Day 5

Day 5 of the second edition of the Indian Premier League saw the battle of two teams that finished last and second-to-last in the first season. But it certainly didn't look that when the Royal Challengers Bangalore took on the Deccan Chargers in a heated match.

The Chargers went charging straight away after winning the toss and electing to bat first. Skipper Adam Gilchrist started middling the ball to all parts of the ground and even sent some of them to the spectators! His opening partner Herschelle Gibbs too joined it with some delightful strokes before his innings was cut short by some good comeback bowling by Praveen Kumar. Gilchrist however was in no mood to stop as he kept the fielders busy picking the balls off the boundary rope. Rohit Sharma joined Gilchrist when Laxman fell and the two of them put together a fine partnership of 61 of 36 balls. After Gilchrist (who scored 71) was dismissed of a good catch by Virat Kohli, it was Sharma's turn to take charge. He hit 5 sixes in his 30-ball 52 which pushed the Chargers' total up to 184-6 in 20 overs.

The Challengers got off to the worst possible start losing Ryder to the very first ball of the innings. The situation didn't look too good after the tactical timeout as they kept losing wickets after a few short partnerships. Rahul Dravid and Kohli injected life into the match with a fiery partnership that looked to keep them in the game. Dravid however, fell at a crucial point for a well-played 48. Kohli, got to his half-century, but the support from the other end was simply not enough as the Challengers had to settle for a total 24 runs behind. They managed 160-8 in their 20 overs.

Twenty-four runs looks like a pretty big margin, but it was a reasonably tight game in the end. The high scoring games are catching on and we're expecting a very thrilling IPL this season!


Scores :
Deccan Chargers 184-6 in 20 overs (Adam Gilchrist 71, Rohit Sharma 52, Kevin Pietersen 2-31) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 160-8 in 20 overs (Jacques Kallis 15, Rahul Dravid 48, Virat Kohli 50, RP Singh 2-17, Scott Styris 3-32).