Harmeet puts the skids on Bangalore

In a match which 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. Harmeet was coming off a very decent performance at this same venue against Chennai Super Kings, where he bowled four miserly overs for 21 runs and one wicket. Today, he specialised in bowling slow leg cutters to take the pace off the ball and make the batsmen work hard for their runs. On a big ground, the Bangalore had to swing harder to get him away.

He started poorly with two wides , including a 15-run first over but then settled into a good rhythm when Adam Gilchrist came up to the stumps. He conceded only three runs in his next over and after Rahul Dravid departed, the pressure was right back on Bangalore. He made things worse for them by conceding only five off his next over.

Robin 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. The next ball, he trapped Dale Steyn plumb in front while attempting a paddle sweep. Though he didn't get the hat-trick, he had effectively sealed the match with those blows.