HYDERABAD (India), May 25: In a battle of nerves, Bangalore Royal Challengers emerged on top as Hyderabad Deccan Chargers once again stumbled in search of their elusive third win in the Indian Premier League here on Sunday.

Chasing 166, Bangalore reached home with five wickets in hand and one over to spare to register back to back wins and their fourth in the competition.

The loss will be a big blow for Adam Gilchrist’s men who are now guaranteed to be the least successful team in the IPL (two wins in 13 games).

With 29 required off three overs, the game was heading down to the wire but it ended with a comprehensive win for Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. And the man who stole the thunder from his more accomplished team-mates was Balachandran Akhil who smashed a blitzkrieg 27 off just seven balls which had three sixes. He ended matters when he hit three sixes in the 19th over, bowled by Chamara Silva.

Earlier, Gilchrist and Herschelle Gibbs put on 101 for the first wicket but a batting collapse restricted Hyderabad to 165 as the home side were bowled out in 19.4 overs.

Bangalore’s run chase was largely powered by Rahul Dravid (31) and Cameron White (31 not out). The duo put on 40 in just 28 balls to bring their side closer to the target after some useful contributions from Misbah-ul-Haq (34) and Jacques Kallis (31). All hopes were pinned on White after Dravid departed but Akhil proved to be Hyderabad’s nemesis.

Summarised scores:

DECCAN CHARGERS 165 in 20 overs (Herschelle Gibbs 47, Adam Gilchrist 46, Venugopal Rao 26; Vinay Kumar 3-27, Dale Steyn 2-19, Virat Kohli 2-25); BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS 171-5 in 19 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 34, Cameron White 31 not out, Rahul Dravid 31, Balachandran Akhil 27 not out).—Agencies