Kolkata, April 20: Deccan Chargers put up a brave fight even after posting a modest 110 but it was David Hussey (38 not out) who won the match for the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.

Things were intriguingly poised, with the hosts reeling at 88/5, when two light towers went off 17th over into the Knight Riders innings.

After a 30-minute stoppage when play resumed, Hussey changed the tide with a six and a four in the 18th over. Scott Styris (0/19), who otherwise bowled very well, conceded a six and boundary in his last over to end end the match. The hosts made 112/5 in 19 overs for their second win in a row.

A 70,000-strong Kolkata crowd braved the heat and the power failure. They danced to the DJs' numbers and expected a run feast. The Eden Gardens wicket however, played spoilsport.

It was an undercooked surface to say the least. Even man-of-the-match Hussey admitted as much. Some deliveries stopped, a few jumped awkwardly from good length.

The ball started to turn almost square from as early as in the seventh over.

Puffs of dust came out, strokeplay was at a premium.

A powerhitter like Andrew Symonds found it difficult go after the bowling as was the case for Knight Riders first match hero Brendon McCullum (5). Symonds decide to bide his time and played very sensibly (32 off 39 balls).

But, it was curator Kalyan Mitra's work that took centrestage, coming up with a pitch totally out of place in T20.

The spinners, however, enjoyed themselves. Murali Kartik (3/17) reaped a rich harvest. Even part-time spinners Mohammad Hafeez (1/8) and David Hussey (1/35) came to the party.

But young Pragyan Ojha (2/18) outshone them with the wickets of Sourav Ganguly (14) and Mohammad Hafeez. (13).

The Chargers were also unlucky to receive a couple of poor umpiring decisions.

Ganguly was plumb in front on the first ball he faced but Billy Bowden negated the appeal. Chaminda Vaas (2/9) was bowling superbly and Ganguly's dismissal at that stage would have reduced the Knight Riders to 16/3.

But the Bengal left-hander went on to add 47 runs for the fourth wicket with Hussey. In a low scoring affair, this partnership turned out to be invaluable.

Deccan Chargers must rue the fact that they could not last their full quota of overs after V.V.S Laxman won the toss and elected to bat. Gilchrist (22) and Venugopal Rao (14) started well but wickets fell in a heap in the middle overs.

Another 15 runs could have been a match-winning total. They also conceded 28 extras which included 15 wides.