Johannesburg, May 17 (IANS) Skipper Yuvraj Singh's hat-trick and two dismissals by Irfan Pathan in the last over gave Kings XI Punjab a thrilling one-run win over Deccan Chargers here Sunday and kept them in contention for a semi-final berth in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Punjab, playing a must-win game to keep their semi-final hopes alive, are now at par with the Chargers with 14 points from 13 matches.
Defending a modest total of 134 for seven after being sent in to bat, Kings XI Punjab recovered in time to get rid of Adam Gilchrist (23).
Ramesh Powar gave Chargers the breakthrough by picking up the dangerous looking Gilchrist and Tirumalsetti Suman in successive balls of the fifth over.
Yuvraj (3-13) then claimed his second hat-trick of the tournament. The Punjab skipper first removed Herschelle Gibbs (26) in the last ball of the 12th over and then dismissed Andrew Symonds (25) and Venugopal Rao (0) in the first two balls of the 14th over to reduce Chargers to 79 for five.
Ravi Teja (10) and Rohit Sharma (42) arrested the rot, with the latter bludgeoning the attack the way he did during his sensational innings against Kolkata Knight Riders Saturday night.
Chargers, playing their second match in 15 hours, needed 43 runs in last three overs and Sharma sent part time bowler Wilkin Mota for 18 runs, badgering two sixes and a four to reduce the deficit to 25 runs from 12 balls.
Sharma then spoiled a measured Brett Lee over, that included the run out of Ravi Teja, hitting him first for a six and for a four on a-no ball. Chargers needed 11 in the last over.
However, Pathan reserved his best in the death and after being sent for a boundary, bowled Rohit with the third delivery. A ball later, he caught and bowled RP Singh. Chargers needed four runs from the last ball but had to content with only two.
For Punjab, Kumar Sangakkara was the only batsman who stood up to Chargers bowlers, smashing four fours and a six in his 43-ball 56 to revive the batting after the early loss of four wickets.
For Chargers, RP Singh was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-26.
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