Kings XI Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh picked up his second hat-trick of the 2009 Indian Premier League and this time it helped set up a victory, by one run, over the Deccan Chargers in Johannesburg.

Yuvraj picked up the wickets of Herschelle Gibbs (26), Andrew Symonds (25) and Yalaka Venugopal Rao (0) with three consecutive balls at the end of the 12th over and the beginning of the 14th but Irfan Pathan was still left with the job of preventing Rohit Sharma taking 11 from the final over to win the match. Sharma hit one four but he was bowled soon after for 42 and the Kings XI held on, restricted the Chargers to 133 for eight after they had earlier made 134 for seven.

Kumar Sangakkara held their own innings together with 56 in 43 balls after they fell to 26 for three early on - Yuvraj Singh was the next best scorer with 20 as RP Singh maintained his lead at the top of the wicket-taking competition with three for 26.

Sharma blasted 42 in 26 balls but with Gilchrist (23), Gibbs and Symonds only making starts, the Kings XI were always in the game. Yuvraj’s hat-trick and Pathan’s coolness under pressure ensured that they kept their semi-finals alive. The left-armer also picked up the wicket of RP Singh (0), caught and bowled, in that final over to finish with two for 29 while off-spinner Ramesh Powar returned two for 11 by removing Gilchrist and Tirumalasetti Suman (0) in consecutive deliveries. He couldn’t complete a hat-trick; Yuvraj could, adding this one to his effort in Durban against the Royal Challengers Bangalore earlier in the tournament.

Kings XI Punjab now have 14 points from thirteen games while Deccan Chargers have 14 points from twelve games.