Deccan Chargers rode on the back of a brilliant half-century by Cameron White ans some disciplined bowling to beat Pune Warriors by 18 runs.
Deccan Chargers beat Pune Warriors by 18 runs her today to register their maiden win in the Indian Premier League's fifth edition.u00a0
Chasing 178 to win, the Warriors' innings never really got going as they ended atu00a0159/7. Most of the Pune top and middle-order batsmen got starts, butu00a0the Chargers' bowlers churned out their most disciplined performance to restrict Pune.
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Pune Warriors, who were cheered by former skipper Yuvraj Singh from the dug out, suffered their second consecutive loss in the IPL and are now sixth with eight points from nine matches.
Debutant pacer Ashish Reddy was the pick of the bowlers bagging two for 32 while South Africa Juan Theron also bagged two for 37.
Pune Warriors never got their chase on track as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Robin Uthappa was the top scorer with 29 while Australian all-rounder Steven Smith made 26.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly (23) failed to make the most of the life he got on 22 when Jean Paul Duminy dropped a sitter at the point. Ganguly survived three more balls before falling to pacer Manpreet Gony.
The dangerous Steven Smith scored a quickfire 26, smacking three huge sixes in his 13-ball blitz, but it was game over once he was dismissed by Rusty Theron.u00a0
Earlier, a brilliant Cameron White carried the Deccan Chargers to a challenging 177 for four.
White smashed a strokeful 78 off just 46 balls and together with JP Duminy (26 not out) added a crucial 75 runs for the fifth wicket to take Deccan to the competitive total.
Cameron White's delightful 78 laid the base for Deccan first win of the season. Pic/AFP
Right-arm pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/33), Marlon Samuels (1/39) and Rahul Sharma (1/39) shared three wickets between them while the fourth Deccan wicket was a run out.
Opting to bat first, openers Parthiv Patel (24) and Shikhar Dhawan (16) ensured a quick start to Deccan innings, smashing Ashish Nehra for three fours as they picked up 16 runs off the first over.
They duo stitched 39 runs off four overs for the opening stand before losing Dhawan.u00a0Deccan received another blow 11 runs later when Patel was caught by Mithun Manhas at deep square-leg off Kumar.
White and skipper Kumar Sangakkara then added 33 runs for the fourth wicket before the later was cleaned up by Sharma.
White, however, seemed in ominous form as he went about his business in style, notching up his first half century of the tournament in just 35 balls with the help of five boundaries and two huge sixes.
In Duminy, White got an able partner as the duo added massive 75 runs off just 38 deliveries for the fifth wicket to help Deccan post a decent total on the board.
White was the aggressor among the two and clobbered Sharma for a four and two consecutive sixes to pick up 19 runs off the 16th over.
After settling down, it was Duminy's turn to open up his arms and he did that perfectly, hitting Samules straight back over his head for a towering six.
But a ball later, Samuels got the prized scalp of White, caught by Alfonso Thomas at deep cover boundary as the batsman went for another huge one.
Ishant Jaggi remained unbeaten 10 along with Duminy.
Having suffered five consecutive losses, Deccan Chargers are still languishing at the bottom of the league with six points from three matches.
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