16 May, 2008
Mishra fireworks seal win

Amit Mishra claimed a hat-trick from the final over of a thrilling game to revive the Delhi Daredevils' semi-final hopes with a 12-run win against the Deccan Chargers.

Chasing the hosts' total of 4-194, the Chargers needed 15 runs from the final over, but Mishra struck with the first three balls of the final over to dash the Chargers' hopes.

Mishra finished with match-winning figures of 5-17.

The Daredevils began the game in desperate need of a win after slumping to four consecutive defeats, which had seen them drop from the top of the Indian Premier League table to outside the top four.

After being sent in to bat the hosts lost Virender Sehwag without scoring in the opening over before Gautam Gambhir (79) and Shikhar Dhawan (68 not out) combined for a stand of 133 from 85 balls to form the backbone of the home side's total.

Gambhir took a heavy-handed approach to the bowling, highlighted by consecutive sixes off India team-mate RP Singh, while Dhawan opted to nudge the ball about the Feroz Shah Kotla.

Gambhir's innings was ended in the 16th over when slow left-armer Pragyan Ojha fired a ball down the leg side to catch out the advancing batsman who was stumped by Adam Gilchrist.

Dhawan continued to find the gaps and some late hitting from Tillakaratne Dilshan, who scored 16 from six balls, left the visitors needing marginally less than 10 runs an over to complete an unlikely run chase.

The Chargers had managed just two wins in the competition, both when chasing, and sought the invention of the recalled Shahid Afridi at the top of the innings to arrest their flagging fortunes.

The Pakistan all-rounder had managed just 47 runs in six innings in the tournament, but he showed what he was capable in typically carefree style, crashing 33 from 14 balls to get the reply off to a promising start.

The Chargers' star-studded batting line-up has failed to fire in this tournament but solid contributions from Herschelle Gibbs (22), Rohit Sharma (35) and Scott Styris (29) gave them a sniff.

And those hopes were further boosted when, following Styris' dismissal in the 18th over, Venugopal Rao took 16 from the next three balls to leave his side needing 25 from 12 balls.

Rao fell in the next over but the Chargers eroded a further 10 runs from the target to set up a thrilling finale.

But Mishra quickly foiled their hopes as he struck to dismiss Ravi Teja, Ojha and RP Singh in consecutive balls.

It was the second hat-trick of the tournament inside a week after Chennai Super Kings medium-pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji completed the feat, also in the final over, against the Kings Punjab XI on Saturday.