Bhatia bowls Delhi to a crushing win

Durban: A spectacular bowling performance by Rajat Bhatia toward the end helped Delhi Daredevils to post a 12-run victory over the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

Delhi Daredevils lead IPL points tally with 16 points from 10 matches, followed by Chennai (13/10), Deccan (12/11), Mumbai (11/11), Rajasthan (11/11), Bangalore (10/11), Punjab (10/11) and Kolkata (3/11).

At one stage Chargers were cruising to victory at 140/3 in reply to Delhi's 173-7, But Bhatia and Pradeep Sanghvan turned the game in Delhi's way as they together grabbed seven wickets. Deccan lost their last seven wickets in 17 deliveries for the addition of just 12 runs to be bowled out for 161 in 19.4 overs. Bhatia took 4-15 in 2.4 overs while Sangwan claimed 3-18 in four overs.

Gilchrist gave his team the perfect start with a quickfire 64 from 33 deliveries, inclusive of five boundaries and five sixes. Andrew Symonds (41 off 22 balls) and Ravi Teja (27 off 34) then brought Deccan back on top with a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket until Teja on the last ball of the 17th over attempted to pull a short-pitched ball from Dirk Nannes and was caught by Bhatia on the boundary.

Dinesh Karthik earlier helped Delhi set a stiff target with a 23-ball 44 not out, including 18 runs off the last five deliveries from Sri Lankan paceman Chaminda Vaas.

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Tillakaratne Dilshan set the pace, plundering 24 runs in an over from paceman Shoaib Ahmed. He cracked one six and seven fours in his 18-ball 37 before being caught by Ravi Teja in the deep off Symonds.

South African AB de Villiers kept the scoreboard moving after Dilshan's dismissal, scoring a 36-ball 44.

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