Deccan rocked by early wickets

Zeecric Bureau Mumbai: Deccan Chargers’ top-order crumbled like nine-pins as, despite winning the toss and electing to bat first, the defending champions found themselves on the back-foot after slumping to 15/3 in just the fourth over. In the clash to decide the third-fourth place in the Indian Premier League, Royal Bangalore Challengers’ skipper Anil Kumble provided his side with a rollicking start with the wicket of his opposite number Adam Gilchrist (4 runs) in the very first over. Praveen Kumar in his two overs inflicted crucial blows on Deccan with the wickets of Monish Mishra (0 runs) and Rohit Sharma (0 runs). Andrew Symonds and Anirudha Singh were holding forte for Deccan. Royal Challengers Bangalore: R Dravid, JH Kallis, KP Pietersen, RV Uthappa†, V Kohli, CL White, B Akhil, P Kumar, A Kumble*, ND Doshi, DW Steyn Deccan Chargers: AC Gilchrist, Monish Mishra, Anirudh Singh RG Sharma A Symonds, Y Venugopal Rao, DR Smith, RJ Harris, PP Ojha, Harmeet Singh, R Sharma