Pressure-cooker situations get the best out of the Deccan ChargersIt was the case at the Kotla on Sunday as well, with defending champions booking the last available semifinals berth following an 11-run win over the Delhi Daredevils in their last league match of IPL-3 here.

After Chennai Super Kings secured their passage with a come-from-behind victory over Kings XI Punjab at Dharamsala earlier in the day, the game was a virtual fight to the finish for the two teams. The Daredevils held a slight edge midway into the game, restricting Adam Gilchrist’s men to a less-than-ideal 145/7 in 20 overs, and then rode on a rearguard action from Paul Collingwood (52 not out, 42b) and Ashish Nehra (21 not out, 16b) in the chase to keep themselves in the hunt until the final two overs.

Needing 27 off the last 12 balls, Harmeet Singh was smashed over the mid-wicket fence by Collingwood, but gave just four runs in the rest of the over to bring the equation down to 17 required off the final six balls. Chaminda Vaas (1/19) in his comeback game for the Chargers kept it full and straight, and gave just five to give the side the second spot in the IPL points table.

The win rounded off what had been a testing run to the knockout stage for the Hyderabad side.

The Chargers were on the brink of elimination, languishing in the bottom two of the table after suffering five consecutive losses a fortnight ago.

From there on to Sunday, though, they won five on the trot to get back in the reckoning. They now face Chennai Super Kings in the semis on Thursday.

Meanwhile, it was a disappointing end to Delhi’s campaign, with inconsistent batting proving to be their undoing. The top order failed again with the side losing seven wickets for 68 runs.

Earlier, the Chargers ended up with a below-par total with none of the batsman managing to convert their starts. Andrew Symonds (54, 30b), with an open-shouldered assault replete with three fours and five sixes, was the only saving grace as the Bulls suffered yet another top-order collapse.

Scoreboard

Deccan chargers
Adam Gilchrist c Gautam Gambhir b Ashish Nehra 10, Monish Mishra run out 25, Tirumalasetti Suman b Umesh Yadav 5, Rohit Sharma c Dinesh Karthik b Umesh Yadav 11, Andrew Symonds c Mithun Manhas b Amit Mishra 54, Mitchell Marsh c Mithun Manhas b Ashish Nehra 13, Bodapati Sumanth not out 7, Chaminda Vaas c Ashish Nehra b Paul Collingwood 3, Rahul Sharma not out 14.
Extras (lb-2, w-1) 3
Total (in 20 overs) 145/7
FoW: 1-11, 2-32, 3-47, 4-66, 5-116, 6-121, 7-128.
Bowling: Dirk Nannes 4-0-22-0, Ashish Nehra 4-0-32-2, Umesh Yadav 4-0-24-2, Amit Mishra 4-0-28-1, Paul Collingwood 3-0-23-1, Tilakaratne Dilshan 1-0-14-0.

Delhi Daredevils
David Warner c Rohit Sharma b Mitchell Marsh 5, Virender Sehwag c Rohit Sharma b Chaminda Vaas 8, Tilakaratne Dilshan lbw Harmeet Singh 11, Gautam Gambhir c Rohit Sharma b Pragyan Ojha 4, Mithun Manhas run out 23, Paul Collingwood not out 51, Dinesh Karthik b Pragyan Ojha 1, Amit Mishra b Harmeet Singh 4, Ashish Nehra not out 22.
Extras (lb-2, w-2, nb-1) 5
Total (in 20 overs) 134/7
FoW: 1-9, 2-19, 3-25, 4-39, 5-68, 6-72, 7-86.
Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 4-0-19-1, Mitchell Marsh 2-0-19-1, Harmeet Singh 4-0-41-2, Andrew Symonds 2-0-8-0, Pragyan Ojha 4-0-16-2, Rahul Sharma 4-0-29-0.