Royal Challengers Bangalore's decision to send Zaheer Khan as pinch-hitter failed miserably as they lost four quick wickets while chasing a huge 175-run target put up by Deccan Chargers at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Thursday.
Earlier, a sparkling half-century ( 61 off 35 balls) by Bharat Chipli and a 22-run cameo by JP Duminy at the end took Deccan Chargers' score to 175/5 in their IPL-4 match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on Thursday.
The two batsmen played some delightful strokes in their 55-run stand for the fourth wicket and ensured that Chargers put up a challenging score after Daniel Vettori won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan looked in elegant touch, hitting exquisite fours off Johan van der Wath in the second over of the match. But in trying to get too adventurous, the southpaw lost his wicket to Zaheer Khan. He made 11 off 9 balls before holing out to Daniel Vettori at mid-on.
Though Sunny Sohal, included in the XI for Ishank Jaggi, looked out of sorts in the early part of his innings, he hit a few sparkling boundaries as he gained confidence
But skipper Kumar Sangakkara's arrival in the middle gave the much-needed calming influence to Sohal, who responded with a beautiful shot over the extra cover before trying a 'Dilscoop' off left-arm pacer S Aravind.
Sangakkara, at the other end, played second fiddle to the attacking Sohal, making sure the strike was rotated regularly.
Ryan Ninan provided the second breakthrough for the RCB as the off-spinner got the wicket of dangerous-looking Sohal, caught at long-on.
After losing Sohal, Sangakkara took charge with incoming Bharat Chipli and started accumulating runs at a brisk pace.
The Deccan skipper played some delightful strokes before being caught behind off van der Wath.
Sangakkara's departure, however, had little impact on Chipli's ambition to take his side over 170. The right-hander launched Ninan for two maximums off consecutive deliveries before hitting Zaheer for three boundaries in the next over.
He raced to his fifty in 29 deliveries and thus made sure that his side put up a huge total for RCB to chase.
