Gilchrist special spurs Chargers into title round

Aussie left-hander smashes the fastest IPL fifty as Hyderabad drub Delhi

Gilchrist hammered 10 fours and five sixes in his 35-ball knock that singlehandedly turned the semifinal into a no contest after Delhi, invited to bat, rode on Tillakaratne Dilshan’s half-century to post a fighting 153 for eight.

The Australian wicketkeeper seemed to be in a hurry to finish off the match.
He was in a murderous mood, hitting Dirk Nannes for five consecutive boundaries in the very first over and then welcoming Pradeep Sangwan with back to back fours and a huge six over mid-wicket.

Herschelle Gibbs’ (0) dismissal had very little effect on him as he brought his 50 off just 17 deliveries, the fastest in the IPL so far, and the fifth quickest in Twenty20 cricket.
His innings was finally brought to an end by Amit Mishra after Gilchrist attempted another big one but held out to Nannes at short third-man. And if Delhi thought getting rid of Gilchrist was the end of all their troubles, they were in for a shock as Andrew Symonds (24 off 15 balls) walked in and clobbered Nannes for two successive boundaries.
Tirumalsetti Suman (24 n.o) too joined the party and picked up a couple of fours and by the time Symonds fell to Mishra (3-19), Deccan Chargers were well into the final, which they did with 14 balls to spare.

Earlier, Sri Lankan Dilshan survived two dropped catches and a run out attempt to score 65 off 51 balls and alongwith captain Virender Sehwag (39) and AB de Villiers (26), helped Delhi to recover from a terrible start that saw Ryan Harris send openers Gautam Gambhir and David Warner back to the pavilion without a run on the board.
It brought Sehwag and Dilshan together. The duo drove, cut and pulled with effortless ease and at the half-way stage, Delhi had raced to 83. However, the first over after break accounted for Sehwag.

Symonds trapped the Delhi skipper in front of the wicket for 39.  His 31-ball knock included five hits to the fence.

Sehwag’s departure put the breaks on Delhi and despite AB de Villiers’ 26 off 21 balls, the total seemed a bit short.

After Sehwag’s departure the  Delhi outfit struggled to find boundaries regularly, and even when Dilshan was going in full flow his emphasis was more on singles and doubles as he struggled to find the ropes with a desired regularity.

And with Gilchirst at his ominous best, no score was safe and Delhi found that out much to their dismay.

Scoreboard

Delhi Daredevils: Gautam Gambhir c RP Singh b Harris 0, David Warner c Gibbs b Harris 0, Virender Sehwag lbw Symonds 39, Tillakaratne Dilshan (run out) 65, AB de Villiers c Gilchrist b RP Singh 26, Dinesh Karthik b Harris 9, Rajat Bhatia c Venugopal Rao b Rudra Pratap Singh 4, Amit Mishra (run out) 0, Pradeep Sangwan (not out) 0. Extras (B-5, W-4, nb-1) 10. Total (for 8 wkts, 20 overs) 153.

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-0, 3-85, 4-133, 5-145, 6-151, 7-153, 8-153.
Bowling: Ryan Harris 4-1-27-3, RP Singh 4-0-33-2, Pragyan Ojha 3-0-27-0, Andrew Symonds 3-0-20-1, Harmeet Singh 3-0-15-0, Rohit Sharma 3-0-26-0.

DECCAN CHARGERS: Adam Gilchrist c Nannes b Mishra 85; Herchelle Gibbs b Nehra 0; Azhar Bilakhia st Karthik b Mishra 10; Tirumalasetti Suman (not out) 24; Andrew Symonds c Warner b Mishra 24; Rohit Sharma (not out) 5; Extras (W-4, NB-2) 6;  Total (4 wickets; 17.4 overs) 154

Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-91, 3-102, 4-137.
Bowling: Dirk Nannes 3-0-38-0, Ashish Nehra 4-0-38-1, Pradeep Sangwan 2.4-0-21-0; Tillkaratne Dilshan 3-0-13-0, Virender Sehwag 1-0-25-0, Amit Mishra 4-0-19-3