Deccan Chargers capitalised on a strong start to post a six-wicket victory over Pune Warriors in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Monday.
Sunny Sohal (34) and Shikhar Dhawan (28) put on 67 for the opening wicket before Deccan achieved a 137-run target with four balls to spare for their fifth win in 13 matches of the Twenty20 tournament.
Skipper Kumar Sangakkara (25), playing his last IPL match before joining the Sri Lankan squad in England, did not wait for the umpire’s decision and walked after being caught behind off leg-spinner Rahul Sharma.
Deccan, already out of contention, also ended Pune’s slim chances of making it to the semi-finals.
Bangalore lead the 10-team league table with 17 points, followed by Chennai (16), Mumbai (16), Kolkata (14), Punjab (12), Kochi (12), Rajasthan (11), Deccan (10), Pune (eight) and Delhi (eight).
Australian seamer Daniel Christian, leg-spinner Amit Mishra and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha earlier took two wickets each to restrict Pune to a modest total.
Australian Mitchell Marsh hit three sixes in his 28-ball 37, while skipper Yuvraj Singh and opener Manish Pandey were the other main scorers with 23 each.
Brief scores:
Pune Warriors 136-9 in 20 overs (M. Marsh 37, Yuvraj Singh 23, M. Pandey 23; D. Christian 2-13, A. Mishra 2-26, P. Ojha 2-35) lost to Deccan Chargers 138-4 in 19.2 overs (S. Sohal 34, S. Dhawan 28, K. Sangakkara 25, JP Duminy 23; R. Sharma 2-25) by six wickets — AFP