Ishant destroys Kochi

Deccan Chargers fast bowler Ishant Sharma celebrates one of his five wickets against Kochi Tuskers Kerala during their IPL encounter in Kochi on Wednesday. PHOTO: 

 

Ishant Sharma went on a rampage with the new ball as Deccan Chargers crushed Kochi Tuskers Kerala by 55 runs in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

Sharma, opening the bowling alongside South African spearhead Dale Steyn, tore Kochi apart with five wickets in his first two overs as the hosts collapsed to 6-11 chasing 130 for victory.

Incredibly, opener Mahela Jayawardene was the only batsman in Kochi's top six to get off the mark, with Brendon McCullum, Parthiv Patel, Raiphi Gomez, Brad Hodge and Kedar Jadhav all departing for ducks.Ravindra Jadeja (23 from 35 balls), Thisara Perera (22 from 23) and Vinay Kumar (18 from 19) added a measure of respectability to Kochi's total as the required run-rate ballooned out to more than 10 an over.But when Jadeja fell to Amit Mishra the end was nigh and Steyn duly ripped through the tail, dismissing the shell-shocked hosts for 74 with 21 balls to spare and finishing with figures of 3-16.Sharma picked up 5-12 from three overs -- the third-best return in IPL history -- and earned man-of-the-match honours ahead of Chargers captain Kumar Sangakkara.The wicketkeeper-batsman and former Sri Lanka skipper struck 10 boundaries on his way to 65 from 47 balls, top-scoring as Deccan posted 7-129 from their 20 overs.The visitors started poorly -- though, in hindsight, not nearly as poorly as some -- losing openers Sunny Sohal (one) and Shikhar Dhawan (four) early to left-armer RP Singh.Vinay picked up the wicket of Bharat Chipli (four) in the sixth over as the Chargers stalled at 3-20, only to be revived by a 90-run partnership between Sangakkara and Australian Cameron White.White played a tempered hand alongside his skipper, content to pick off the singles on his way to 31 from 34 balls as Deccan's innings gathered pace.But their momentum was snuffed out in Vinay's final over, the seamer dismissing White and Sangakkara in successive deliveries to leave Deccan teetering at 5-110 with 18 balls remaining.Australian Dan Christian (nine) and Dwaraka Ravi Teja (eight not out) got starts but struggled to reach the fence in the final overs, their progress stunted by some terrific bowling by Perera at the death.What seemed a comfortable chase had become mission impossible within the first four overs of Kochi's reply, as the hosts collectively lost their heads and their wickets.Steyn kick-started the rout by dismissing McCullum for nought off the fourth ball, and Sharma had Patel caught behind and bowled Gomez and Hodge in his first over to reduce the Tuskers to 2-4.Jayawardene picked up his only runs by flaying Steyn to the boundary in the third over, though his stay was short-lived as he and Jadhav fell to Sharma before the innings was 25 balls old.Perera flashed a couple of streaky boundaries off Steyn in his short stay but never really looked comfortable on the Kochi strip, eventually mistiming a pull off Perera straight to White at cover.Vinay joined Jadeja at the crease with the scoreboard displaying an unflattering 7-47, and the pair eked 26 runs from the next 30 balls before the latter holed out to midwicket.That brought Steyn back into the attack for his fourth and final over, and the intimidating quick needed only three balls to skittle Vinay and Singh (0) and wrap up a comprehensive victory.

SCORES IN BRIEF
DECCAN CHARGERS: 129-7 in 20 overs (Sangakkara 65, White 31; Kumar 3-25, RP Singh 2-21)

KOCHI TUSKERS KERALA: 74 all out in 16.3 overs (Jadeja 23; ISharma 5-12, Steyn 3-16)

Result: Deccan Chargers won by 55 runs.

Man-of-the-match: Ishant Sharma.