That 33-run victory came at the expense of Royal Challengers Bangalore. “It’s good to get on the board, there’s a lot of relief and joy,” the Chargers’ skipper added. “It was a complete team effort, everyone contributed with bat and ball and in the field, and that’s what made it special.”

All praise for Bharath Chipli, who smashed a 35-ball 61, the Sri Lankan went on, “Chipli played magnificently. He set the tempo, and what Sunny Sohal and JP Duminy did was exactly what we wanted them to do. The bowling at the outset was also exceptional thro­ugh Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma and Manpreet Gony. The first six overs made a huge difference because otherwise, it is a hard ground to defend on.”

Man of the match Dale Steyn relished the pace and bounce here. “That’s one of the things (coach) Darren Lehmann has been working closely with the groundsman on. We have seen what our strengths are, and we are playing according to our strengths,” the Protean observed.

Royal Challengers skipper Daniel Vettori was understandably disappointed. “I was particularly disappointed with both our bowling and fielding today. Especially with the fielding, we gave away almost 25 runs and that is something we need to remedy very quickly. We let them get away to 175 (for five), and once you have to chase that big a score, it becomes very difficult to get there unless you have partnerships up front.

Unfortunately, Deccan bowled well at the top and we were not able to get the runs we needed at the start.”