Roach on bench as Chargers crash out

MUMBAI, India (CMC):

West Indies fast bowler Kemar Roach surprisingly played no part as his Deccan Chargers slumped out of the Indian Premier League on Thursday with a disappointing 38-run loss to Chennai Super Kings.

The 21-year-old speedster, one of the highly sought-after players prior to the start of the cash-rich tournament, was omitted from final XI as Indian seamers RP Singh and Harmeet Singh were preferred instead.

Roach has not had the best of entries into the IPL, and last played almost three weeks ago when his four overs went for 48 runs as the Chargers went down to Chris Gayle's Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens.

In fact, the right-armer who was one of the most expensive signings at US$720 000, played just two matches in the tournament. There has been no word on whether Roach is injured.

His lack of playing time will be a worry for the West Indies who face England and Ireland in Group D of the opening round of matches in the World Twenty20 Championship starting later this month.

There was no room in the Deccan side either for Roach's West Indies teammate Dwayne Smith who has also played just two matches.

On the field, Man-of-the-Match left-arm seamer Doug Bollinger snatched four for 13 to restrict the Chargers to 104 all out off 19.2 overs, in response to Chennai's 142 for seven off 20 overs.

The tournament concludes in Mumbai with the third place play-off between Deccan and Royal Challengers Bangalore tomorrow and the finals between Mumbai and Chennai on Sunday.