High on confidence after the last-ball victory against Kolkata Knight Riders, Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist is now eyeing another win in their next outing against Kings XI Punjab on Sunday to seal a semi-final berth in the Indian Premier League.

Sent in to bat first, Kings XI Punjab lost three quick wickets against consistent Deccan Chargers at New Wanderers Stadium.

RP Singh dismissed opener Sunny Sohal (9) in the second over to become the highest wicket-taker in the tournament. Sohal tried all possible ways to get out and was finally successful when miscued one to Rohit Sharma at short fine-leg.

Luke Pomersbach also did not last long and was run-out by Herschelle Gibbs for 1 run.

Simon Katich played couple of good shots before being claimed by Andrew Symonds for 11 runs. Pragyan Ojha took a comfortable catch at the mid-on.

Adam Gilchrist won the toss and invited Kings XI Punjab to bat first in the 49th match of the IPL.

Chargers included Jaskaran Singh in their line-up, as Harmeet Singh was warming the benches.

Kings XI Punjab retained the same side which stunned Delhi Daredevils on May 15.

Punjab have the psychological advantage going into the match as they had beaten Adam Gilchrist’s men by three wickets in their earlier meeting.

Deccan Chargers took a stride towards reserving their semi-final berth as they pipped Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in a last-ball thriller on Saturday.

The teams

Deccan Chargers: Adam Gilchrist, Herschelle Gibbs, Tirumalsetti Suman, Rohit Sharma, Andrew Symonds, Venugopal Rao, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Ryan Harris, Jaskaran Singh, Rudra Pratap Singh, Pragyan Ojha.

Kings XI Punjab: Sunny Sohal, Simon Katich, Kumar Sangakkara (w), Yuvraj Singh(c), Luke Pomersbach, Irfan Pathan, Wilkin Mota, Brett Lee, Piyush Chawla, Ramesh Powar, S Sreesanth.

Tags: Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Deccan chargers Vs Kings XI Punjab, Deccan Vs Punjab, Hershchelle Gibbs, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL Updates, Kings XI Punjab Vs Deccan Chargers, Punjab Vs Hyderabad, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh

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Having lost two matches on the trot, table toppers Deccan Chargers will be looking to get back to winning ways against last year’s runners-up Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League at the Buffalo Park on Monday.

For Super Kings it is just the opposite. They are on a two-match winning streak and will be hoping to make a hat-trick of wins, which was done by Deccan Chargers early on in the league.

Deccan Chargers, despite their last two losses, are a formidable outfit and are one of the favourites to win the title and atone for their dismal performance in the first edition, where they finished at the bottom of the table.

This time under a new captain Adam Gilchrist, Deccan Chargers have forced everyone to stand up and take notice of their performance. Their batting has looked solid with Gilchrist leading the charge. Youngsters like Rohit Sharma and Azhar Bilakhia have also come out with good innings.

The bowlers also have done well, especially fast bowlers Rudra Pratap Singh and Fidel Edwards. Rudra Pratap is the second highest wicket-taker in the IPL while Edwards has checked the run flow. Left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha has been one of the most successful spinner in the second IPL and was chief architect in Chargers’ win over Mumbai Indians.

Batting and bowling aside, Deccan Chargers’ fielding has been exceptional. Live-wire fielders like Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma have really set the benchmarks on the field.

Not doubt it will be a challenge for the Super Kings to put a challenging total on board. Their opening pair has been a problem. While the veteran Matthew Hayden has been in fine nick, he hasn’t got good support from the other end. Parthiv Patel looked out of sorts and his replacement Murali Vijay was a misfit in the Twenty20.

Except Suresh Raina and S Badrinath, big names like Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Jacob Oram and Albie Morkel are due for a big score.

But the bowlers have come up with good performances. Saturday night little known Shadab Jakati spun Super Kings to a terrific win over Daredevils. Sudeep Tyagi and the wily Muttiah Muralitharan have been economical.

With both the teams eager for a win, an exciting clash is on the card.

Tags: Adam Gilchrist, Albie Morkel, Badrinath, Chennai Super Kings Vs Deccan Chargers, Fidel Edwards, Hershchelle Gibbs, Hyderabad Deccan Chargers, IPL 2, IPL 2009, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL Updates, Jacob Oram, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mathew Hayden, Muttiah Muralitharan, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Suresh Raina

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Having suffered their first defeat in the tournament, table toppers Deccan Chargers will seek to return to winning ways when they clash with an unpredictable Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League here on Saturday.

Although the Deccan Chargers’ fairytale campaign was stopped on Thursday night by the Delhi Daredevils, the Hyderabad team is a formidable opponent for the Royals and are sitting pretty at the top with four wins out of five matches.

Tagged as laggards last year, the Chargers have been a revelation in this edition of the IPL Twenty20 tournament and looked unstopabble till Thursday when Daredevils defeated them by six wickets.

The Chargers’ will be relying heavily on captain Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs, who flopped for the first time in the event against the Daredevils, to fire up front as the duo played a significant role in their success so far.

Gilchrist and Gibbs have been in rampaging form and have blown away their opponents with their powerful hitting. The Chargers middle order looks impressive with Rohit Sharma and Dwayne Smith scoring against the Daredevils on Thursday.

Except for one bad outing against the Daredevils, the Hyderabad team’s bowling department has also looked in good shape with RP Singh leading from the front and young Pragyan Ojha emerging as a new talent in India’s spin department.

West Indian Fidel Edwards, who looked little out of sorts against the Daredevils, will look to come out charged up against the Royals to make amends for his poor show. On the other hand, with two victories out of six matches, Shane Warne-led Rajasthan Royals, are at the bottom half of the points table.

The defending champions had a mixed outing in the tournament so far and lacked consistency in their performance. Their unpredictability can be ascertained from the fact that just after their five-wicket triumph over formidable Dardevils on Tuesday, they slumped to a 38-run loss at the hands of a struggling Chennai Super Kings on Thursday.

Batting continues to remain a concern area for the Royals with the top three Graeme Smith, Rob Quiney and Swapnil Asnodkar emerging as a big disappointment. The defending champions are depending heavily on Yusuf Pathan to come good which is putting extra pressure on the right-hander.

The Royals’ bowlers too have their task cut out as Super Kings’ Suresh Raina smashed them all over the park to expose their weakness.

To add to their woes, the Royals might have to do away with young Kamran Khan who injured his foot against Chennai and didn’t come out to bat later.

Tags: Adam Gilchrist, Deccan Chargers Vs Rajasthan Royals, Graeme Smith, Hershchelle Gibbs, Hyderabad Deccan Chargers, IPL 2, IPL 2009, IPL 2009 News, IPL Scores, IPL South Africa, IPL Updates, Jaipur Rajasthan Royals, Pragyan Ojha, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh, Shane Warne, Yusuf Pathan

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