IPL: 5 best last over finishes from IPL 2009

#4 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers (16 May 2009)

Rohit Sharma celebrates after leading Deccan Chargers to an unlikely win.

Two days before they ended their 9 match losing streak by defeating Chennai Super Kings, the Kolkata Knight Riders were involved in another thriller of a match against Deccan Chargers which they lost from a winning position on 16 May 2009.

Put into bat by Deccan Chargers skipper Adam Gilchrist, Kolkata Knight Riders scored 160/5 in their 20 overs, on the back of 48 runs in 41 balls by Brad Hodge and a quickfire 43 runs of just 17 balls by David Hussey.

Chasing 161 for a win, the Deccan Chargers openers Adam Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs put on a partnership of 68 runs in 56 balls for the 1st wicket, before Gilchrist was dismissed by Brad Hodge for 43 runs. Soon after Gilchrist's wicket, left-arm spinner Murali Kartik dismissed Gibbs who was struggling to time the ball in his entire innings was for 28 runs of 34 balls in the 13th over.

After the fall of Gibbs, the Deccan Chargers lost the wickets of T. Suman and Andrew Symonds in the form of run outs to be reduced to 128/4 in 17 overs with still 33 runs to get off 18 balls.

The Knight Riders pacers Mashrafe Mortaza and Ajit Agarkar then conceded just 6 runs each from the 18th and 19th over to leave Knight Riders as the firm favorites to win the match as Deccan Chargers now required difficult 21 runs of the final over to win the match with Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao at the crease. With 21 required in the last over, Mashrafe Mortaza was expected to defend it.

But current Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma had other ideas. He hit a four of Mortaza's first ball, which was also a no-ball as Knight Riders had just 3 fielders inside the circle and a couple of balls later, Rohit smashed a huge 115m six over mid-wicket. On the 5th ball, Rohit hit a four to tie the game and then hit the last ball for another huge six to completely stun the Kolkata Knight Riders and thereby confining Knight Riders to 9th consecutive loss.

Brief Scores:

KKR – 160/5 (20) – Brad Hodge 48(41), David Hussey 43(17), Ryan Harris 2/20(4)

DC – 166/4 (20) – Adam Gilchrist 43(31), Rohit Sharma 32*(13), Murali Kartik 1/12(4)

Man of the Match – Rohit Sharma