IPL Match 37th: Daredevils tame Chargers to snap losing streak (Afiridi getting slammed)

New Delhi: Amit Mishra registered the second hat-trick of the Indian Premier League as Delhi Daredevils staved off Deccan Chargers' audacious design for an upset win and eked out a nervy 12-run victory to snap their losing spree here on Thursday night.

Chasing 195, the lowly Deccans did not have a single match-winning knock but they put together a string of cameos to reach near the target before eventually folding up for 182 for nine.

Mishra removed Ravi Teja, Pragyan Ojha and RP SIngh off three successive balls in a dramatic last over to record the second hat-trick of the tournament. His figures read 4-0-17-5.

Earlier, twin half centuries from Gautam Gambhir (79) and Shikhar Dhawan (68 not out) powered Delhi Daredevils to an impressive 194 for 4.

Adam Gilchrist (14) and Shahid Afridi (33) walked in to spearhead the Deccan riposte and the swashbuckling duo looked in tremendous hurry to wrap up things. To make it worse for the hosts, Dinesh Karthik spilled an edge from Gilchrist off Mohammad Asif before Glenn McGrath cut short his compatriot's stay in the third over.

There, however, was no dearth of firepower as Herschelle Gibbs (22) seemed keen to make amends for his string of poor shows and smote McGrath for two sixes as he decided to match Afridi shot for shot.

Things looked quite ominous for the hosts before Mishra did the trick. He struck with his first ball as Afridi perished at point and, in his next over, the leggie sent down a googly which got the better of Gibbs' defence, ending the Protea's run-a-ball knock. Afridi's 14-ball sizzler included three four and two sixes.

Rohit Sharma (35) continued his rich vein of form, milking 19 runs off a Rajat Bhatia over but a moment of madness and a fluffed paddle sweep brought his peril as a Ferveez Maharoof delivery rattled his timbers. His 18-ball cameo was studded with three fours and two sixes. Scott Styris (29) and Y Venugopal Rao (34 off 18 balls) almost accomplished the mission before falling in quick succession and with their dismissal, Deccan's hopes for their third win in the tournament went up in smoke as the visitors lost wickets in a heap towards the end with Mishra emerging as the wrecker-in-chief.

Earlier put in to bat, the hosts lost skipper Virender Sehwag (0) in the first over but Gambhir and Dhawan shared 133 runs in just over 14 overs to steady the boat even though the hosts eventually fell shy of the 200-mark.

Gambhir's 48-ball pyrotechnics included seven hits to the fence besides three sixes. Dhawan's sedate unbeaten knock was a product of his 52-ball stay during which he hit eight boundaries.

Deccan Chargers' two wins so far in the tournament came chasing and almost predictably, skipper Adam Gilchrist inserted the hosts after winning the toss.

And by the time P Vijaykumar had finished the first over, Delhi had their skipper back in the hut after a two-ball misadventure yielding naught.

If the fierce slash over the third man has fetched Sehwag truckloads of run, it has often been his Achilles' heel as well. Vijaykumar offered the width and Sehwag went by his instinct only to find RP Singh as a hushed silence descended on the Ferozeshah Kotla.

Gambhir did not look quite convincing either. Twice he was almost caught and once he escaped a run out, making ground just in time to hang around.

The southpaw finally broke the shackles in the fourth over, milking 20 runs off it. RP Singh banged one short and Gambhir sent it over deep square leg ropes. He walked out to swat the next delivery over mid-wicket and followed it up with a full-blooded cut that zoomed past the point fielder for a four. Dhawan was content playing the second fiddle all along and the left-hander hit Afridi for back-to-back boundaries to reach his half-century.

The duo laid the perfect foundation for a late burst but Gambhir's dismissal, stumped off a wide ball from Pragyan Ojha, came as anti-climax.