Kings XI Punjab beat Deccan Chargers by one run in IPL thriller

Johannesburg, May 17 (ANI): Kings XI Punjab skipper Yuvraj Singh's took his second hat-trick, as his team beat Deccan Chargers by one run in an Indian Premier League (IPL) thriller here on Sunday.

Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist won the toss and elected to field first.

Punjab lost its first wicket when opener Sunny Sohal attempted a cheeky flick shot to Rohit Sharma over short fine leg. Herschelle Gibbs and wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist then combined to run out Luke Pomersbach on 1. Just 11 runs later Simon Katich hit straight to Pragyan Ojha at mid on, off an Andrew Symonds ball full of a length, to leave Punjab on 26-3.

Captain Yuvraj Singh added 20 runs from 18 balls before being deceived by Venugopal Rao's change of pace to be bowled. Mota's cameo innings ended when his sweep shot failed to clean long on for Harris to take the catch diving forward.

Singh bowled to a good length at the death, taking the last wicket when Irfan Pathan failed to get hold of another fuller ball to give Gibbs a routine catch.

Kings XI wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara was the only batsman who played some good shots in his inning of 56 runs off 43 balls with four fours and a huge six.

Kings XI finally scored 134 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs.

For Deccan Chargers, R. P. Singh was most successful bowler with three wickets.

Chasing a victory target of 135, Deccan Chargers got to a good start and openers Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs scored 34 runs for the first wicket. Gilchrist scored 23 runs in 13 balls with four fours and one six.

Once, Chargers were standing tall at a score of 79 runs with seven wickets in hand, but Yuvraj Singh's second hat-trick put Chargers in trouble.

Yuvraj dismissed Herschelle Gibbs (26), Andrew Symonds (25) and Venugopal Rao (0), spread over two overs, to bring back Punjab in hunt.

Rohit Sharma was the highest scorer with 42 runs in 26 balls with three fours and two sixes.

Yuvraj Singh was declared 'Man of the Match' for his brilliant hat-trick. (ANI)