Poochandi

April 23, 2009

Adam Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma lit up Newlands Stadium with their batting pyrotechnics as Deccan Chargers thumped Bangalore Royal Challengers by 24 runs for their second straight win in the Indian Premier League here today.

On a perfect day, the Deccan Chargers did everything right -- from winning the toss, posting an imposing 184 for six and then restricting their opponents to 160 for eight for a facile win.

For the Bangalore side, Virat Kohli (50 off 32 balls) and Rahul Dravid (48 off 27 balls) tried their best but that was just not enough to chase down the highest score of the tournament, built around the blistering half-centuries from Gilchrist (71) and Rohit (52).

A solid start was a pre-requisite to such a herculean chase but Bangalore Royal Challengers had a rather ominous beginning with Fidel Edwards disturbing Jesse Ryder's furniture with the first delivery of the innings.

Second ball duck in the first match, dropped from the second game and golden duck today -- Ryder's nightmare simply showed no signs of ending.