Last in 2008, toppers this year: Deccan script Indian Premier League fairytale

At some point during their Indian Premier League campaign, the Deccan Chargers must have realised they had a lucky mascot in their midst — the team had won every game that Harmeet Singh had played in. On Sunday night though, the medium-pacer played a bigger role than just being picked in the XI, taking two crucial wickets and snapping up a spectacular catch at deep fine-leg as Adam Gilchrist and his side completed a remarkable journey from the bottom of the table last year to the Indian Premier League title in Johannesburg on Sunday evening.

Defending a paltry 143, Hyderabad rallied late in the piece to carve out a six-run victory over Bangalore Royal Challengers to lift the title.

The stunning turnaround in fortunes came about through many small efforts that added up to the big prize.

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From darkness to Knights

It's the kind of script that even Shah Rukh Khan might not dare to take up on the sets of Tinseltown. For 30 long minutes, time stood still at Eden Gardens. The floodlights had gone off following a glitch, the two teams were tied on Duckworth and Lewis calculations, and the dreaded waiting game was on.

Finally, as the lights returned, two unlikely heroes, David Hussey and Laxmi Ratan Shukla, got back on the pitch for Kolkata Knight Riders, needing 22 runs off 20 balls to consign V VS Laxman's Deccan Chargers to defeat.

In the end, it was the Bollywood Badshah who had the last laugh, but not before some heart-in-the-mouth moments. The tenacious Australian Hussey proved his mettle when it mattered most, smashing a six, a four, and another six to see Knight Riders through to a five-wicket win with six balls to spare. Deccan Chargers had fought hard on a devil of a pitch, thanks largely to heroic bowling efforts from Chaminda Vaas (2/9), RP Singh (1/15) and Pragyan Ojha (2/18), but came up just short.

In stark contrast to the IPEs tournament opener in Bangalore, here was one low-scoring match on a nightmare of a pitch. Luckily, though, it threw up the most thrilling contest of the tournament as yet.

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