Deccan Chargers took the bull in their emblem too seriously, as they came out charging to defend a modest total. They bowled with fire, they fielded aggressively, they sledged with a vengeance, and literally, almost by physical force, hustled Royal Bangalore Challengers out in a thrilling final that lived up to the occasion.The final turning point of the night, which had many by the way, was the 15th over, bowled by Andrew Symonds when he matched his verbal skills from earlier in the night with the wickets of Ross Taylor and Virat Kohli in back-to-back deliveries. Bangalore were 99 for 6 when the over started, and Taylor had looked dangerous in his 20-ball 27. That over was symbolic of the night: every time a batsman seemed to get away from the bowling side, a breakthrough pulled the batting side back.
In defence of a total three less than what Bangalore bettered easily in the semi-final, Deccan came out pumped: with the way they bowled and more conspicuously with they way they behaved. Symonds shadowed the latest tyro, Manish Pandey, all the way from the dugout to the crease. And all during his stay Pandey was a marked man. Symonds followed him wherever he went, giving him lip. Ryan Harris matched the aggression with the ball, clocking 145kmph constantly in the first over, a maiden.
Jacques Kallis looked to take the pressure off the 19-year-old batting with him. In Harris' next over Kallis took two boundaries to get the chase going. RP Singh brought the balance back when Kallis pulled him onto his stumps, going for consecutive boundaries. Out came Roelof van der Merwe, who used the adrenalin to push Bangalore further towards the target.
van der Merwe, another little known commodity, got a mouthful from Symonds and Harris, but he responded by taking two sixes off one Harris over. Despite the maiden Harris had gone for 23 in three overs. Even after Pragyan Ojha got Pandey with the first ball he bowled, van der Merwe's pyrotechnics kept Deccan at a distance.
One ball summed up the adrenalin rush van der Merwe was feeling. Beaten in the flight by Ojha he managed an edge that saved him from the stumping, but he also dropped the bat down. He picked his bat up even as he ran the first run, and turned a two into a three, saving himself from the run-out by running in a direct line from stumps to stumps and diving into them.
- Venki
