Bowlers star as Delhi beats Deccan by 12 runs

Man-of-the-match Rajat Bhatia took four wickets and Pradeep Sangwan bagged three in an inspired spell of bowling that helped the Delhi Daredevils to a 12-run victory over the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

With Deccan apparently cruising to victory at 140-3 in reply to Delhi's 173-7, right-arm medium pacer Bhatia and 18-year-old left-arm seamer Sangwan turned the game on its head as Deccan lost seven wickets in 17 deliveries.

"Sangwan bowled very well upfront," Delhi captain Virender Sehwag said. "Rajat also bowled very well. I really on Rajat a lot because he bowls so well those slow balls and yorkers."

Deccan captain Gilchrist said his team had allowed Delhi to score too many runs.

"The positives are there, we came and played a good game of cricket," Gilchrist said. "The negative is that we gave the game away. You can't turn out and bowl and field like that without it coming back to haunt you."

Bhatia took 4-15 in 2.4 overs while Sangwan claimed 3-18 in four overs.

Dinesh Karthik had earlier hit 44 not out, including 23 off the final over, to bolster Delhi's total.

Sangwan then gave Delhi the initial breakthrough by removing Deccan opener Tirumalsetti Suman for 3 and number three Rohit Sharma for 6.

He later returned and took another crucial wicket when Deccan were in a commanding position at 86-2, bowling Adam Gilchrist for 64.

Gilchrist top-scored for Deccan, blasting five boundaries and five sixes in 33 balls.

Andrew Symonds (41 off 22 balls) and Ravi Teja (27 off 34) then brought Deccan back on top with a 63-run stand for the fourth wicket until Teja on the last ball of the 17th over attempted to pull a short-pitched ball from Dirk Nannes and was caught by Bhatia on the boundary.

Bhatia then struck twice in the next over, bowling Symonds with a full delivery and Dwayne Smith (1) with a slower, seaming ball.

Venugopal Rao (1) gave an easy catch to wicketkeeper Karthik as he tried to duck under a rising ball from Ashish Nehra.

Rudra Singh was run out first ball before the last two wickets fell in the final over. Pragyan Ojha missed another straight Bhatia delivery to be bowled and Shoaib Maqsusi was well caught by A.B. de Villiers at long on to complete Bhatia's four wicket haul and Delhi's victory.