Punjab edge thriller

Yuvraj Singh took a hat-trick as Kings XI Punjab sealed a one-run victory over Deccan Chargers

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Two wickets in the final over from Irfan Pathan helped Kings XI Punjab seal a dramatic one-run Indian Premier League win over Deccan Chargers in Johannesburg.

Chasing 135 for victory, Deccan and their in-form batsman Rohit Sharma looked poised to repeat their feat from yesterday when they snatched a final-ball win over the Kolkata Knight Riders.

But the dismissal of key man Sharma (42) with four runs still needed proved decisive as they were restricted to 133 for eight.

Earlier, Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh (3-13) claimed his second hat-trick of the competition after Kumar Sangakkara (56) had helped them post a below-par total of 134 for seven at the Wanderers.

They battled through the early overs and the loss of wickets at regular intervals severely hampered their progress.

Sunny Sohal (nine), Luke Pomersbach (one) and Simon Katich (11) all fell within the first five overs leaving their side at 26 for three.

Yuvraj and Sangakkara tried to steady the ship with a 26-run fourth-wicket stand, but the demise of the captain – bowled by Venugopal Rao for 20 – seven deliveries before the strategy break again stifled progress.

However, Sangakkara and Wilkin Mota then put on 53 in 7.2 overs, which was followed by the Sri Lankan bringing up his half-century in 38 balls, before the next breakthrough.

Tirumalasetti Suman was the bowler, tempting Mota into a slog sweep that was lofted straight to Ryan Harris at cow corner for 12.

RP Singh ended Sangakkara’s 43-ball knock when he had him caught on the long-on boundary and Pathan followed in the same manner as Punjab were restricted to 134 for seven.

Kumar Sangakkara struck 56 to help Punjab post a decent total which proved just enough

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In response, Deccan’s opening pair of Herschelle Gibbs and Adam Gilchrist again threatened to run away early on reaching 34 in four overs when Ramesh Powar was introduced.

The India off-break bowler struck with his first delivery when he had the opposing skipper stumped for 23 and followed that up next ball by cleaning up Suman, who had not troubled the scorers.

Andrew Symonds came in and together with Gibbs the pair helped their side reach the midway point in a strong position at 65 for two.

The duo added 39 together but, as seen with previous games, the break in play worked to their detriment with Yuvraj grabbing the breakthrough when he had Gibbs (26) caught by a diving Piyush Chawla at point with the final ball of the 12th over.

Deccan still looked poised for victory with 56 needed from 42 balls, but Yuvraj claimed the prize scalp of Symonds with the first delivery of the 14th over, excellently stumped by Sangakkara for 25, followed by Rao, bowled by a flat delivery for a duck.

Needing 43 from 18, Sharma took 18 from the next over by Mota and a further 14 from Brett Lee’s penultimate over.

This time 11 were needed from the final six deliveries and Sharma looked to be winning the game for his side with seven taken from the first two balls.

But he was bowled by Pathan and Deccan managed just two more runs - both off the final delivery.