Harmeet Singh, Rohit Sharma shore up Deccan

Deccan Chargers 151 for 6 (Rohit 51, Steyn 3-18) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 138 (Dravid 49, RP 2-21, Ojha 2-22, Harmeet 2-24) by 13 runs

Deccan Chargers survived three huge blows in the first two overs of the match, and some more towards the end by Robin Uthappa, to keep alive their hopes of a semi-final berth. In a match that lurched wildly one way and then another, Harmeet Singh delivered the most decisive blow as Deccan held their nerve and eked out a 13-run win to move up to fifth in the points table.

There were several moments in the match when it seemed Royal Challengers Bangalore had nailed the decisive advantage. First, when Dale Steyn took three wickets in first two overs, including those of Adam Gilchrist and Hershelle Gibbs, to reduce Deccan to 14 for 3; then, when Rahul Dravid creamed a classy and effortless 35-ball 49 to put Bangalore right on track in their run-chase; and again, when Uthappa struck two towering sixes off Ryan Harris in the 17th over to reduce the target to 18 from 12 balls.

That's when Harmeet delivered the blow from which there was no comeback for Bangalore. Bowling his back-of-the-hand slower deliveries, he ended Uthappa's swashbuckling innings, and effectively ruined Bangalore's run-chase. That over went for just one run, and it was clear which team would end up the winner.

Teams have struggled at overhauling even modest totals at this ground, and it was a similar story today, thanks to the conditions which make it a far more even contest between bat and ball than most other venues - the boundaries were much bigger, ensuring shots which would have cleared the ground elsewhere stayed within the arena, and the pitch was slow and assisted spin, causing several batsmen to mis-time lofted shots.