By IANS,
Hyderabad: Sourav Ganguly made an impressive contribution in Pune Warriors’ six wicket victory over Deccan Chargers in a clash of the bottom-placed teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Tuesday.The Warriors restricted the Chargers to 136 for eight and with the help of their top three batsmen – Jesse Ryder (35), Manish Pandey (49) and Ganguly (32) – chased down the target in 18.2 overs. Australian Mitchell Marsh (4-25) was the most effective in the bowling department.
It was Pune Warriors’ second successive win. They are now at seventh place in the table with eight points from 11 matches while Deccan Chargers are ninth with six points in as many games.
The two teams were already out of contention for a place in the play-off and in fact, it was Ganguly’s return that added interest in the dead rubber. The former India captain was roped in by Pune Warriors last week as a late replacement for Ashish Nehra.
Ryder gave Warriors a good start. He looked dangerous and smashed Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma all over the park. The New Zealander’s six over mid-wicket of Steyn’s first over was one of the best strokes he played in his 20-ball knock. The first two overs of Steyn and Sharma produced 24 runs for the Warriors and set the tone for a successful chase.
Ryder was dismissed by Pragyan Ojha in the seventh over. That led to the much-awaited moment when Ganguly walked down the ground amid a loud roar from the crowd. Immediately, Ganguly’s die-hard-fans were out with banners hailing his return.
Ganguly did not disappoint, middling the ball well and standing solid against the pace of Steyn and Sharma.
He showed sparks of his old brilliance when he made room to hit Sharma for a four over extra-cover and then dispatched leg-spinner Amit Mihsra for a six, charging down the track in his trademark style.
Ganguly gave good support to Pandey, who looked in sublime form during his 42-ball innings. The Karnataka batsman punished the spinners heavily but unfortunately missed out on a fifty after being adjudged lbw off Mishra in the 12th over.
Soon, Ganguly held the reins of the innings and stayed till the end to take the team home.
Chargers, opting to bat, squandered away a good start to post a modest total.
After openers Shikhar Dhawan (24) and Ravi Teja (30) took the score to 50 in the first six overs, the Chargers kept losing wickets at key moments.
The side’s batting has revolved around captain Kumar Sangakkara (12) throughout the tournament and once he departed, the others failed to get going. Jean-Paul Duminy (30) and Bharat Chipli (18) chipped in with valuable contributions but the Warriors bowled in the right areas to stifle the batsmen.
Marsh’s wickets of Duminy, Sunny Sohal (0) and Amit Mishra (0) in the 19th over prevented any chance of a late onslaught.