Shikhar Dhawan, on way to his unbeaten 95

Dharamsala: Leg spinner Amit Mishra recorded the first hattrick of the season as Deccan Chargers crushed Kings XI Punjab by 82 runs to dash their hopes of making the Indian Premier League play-offs here Saturday.

Chasing 199, Punjab only managed to score 116 in 19 overs at the picturesque HPCA stadium with captain Adam Gilchrist (51) being the top scorer.

Brought back into the attack in the 16th over, Mishra removed Ryan McLaren, Mandeep Singh and Ryan Harris off successive deliveries to record his second hattrick in the Twenty20 tournament.

Mishra has now joined Yuvraj Singh as the only player in the IPL to have recorded two hattricks.

Apart from these two players, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Lakshmipathy Balaji, Chennai Super Kings’ Makhaya Ntini and Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma had achieved the feat in the previous editions of the event.

After the Chargers rode on Shikhar Dhawan’s unbeaten 95 and Ravi Teja’s 60 to post an imposing 198 for two, Mishra returned with figures of 4-1-9-4 to spin the Chargers to victory.

Punjab’s defeat means that the Mumbai Indians and the Knight Riders confirm their berths in the play-offs.