The Mumbai Indians registered their sixth consecutive win by beating the Deccan Chargers by 25 runs in the Indian Premier League on Sunday, May 18, 2008. Batting first, the Mumbai Indians scored a competitive 178 runs for the loss of seven wickets, all because of some sensible batting by Abhishek Nayar and Dwayne Bravo. Subsequently, they managed to restrict the hosts to 153 runs for seven in their 20 overs.

This win will serve sort of a revenge for the Mumbai Indians as they had lost by a comprehensive 10 wickets margin against the Chargers earlier, at their home ground. Bravo, who was playing his last match in the IPL, ended the tournament on a wonderful note as he collected the first 30 runs and then took 3 wickets as well. This, in turn played a very important role in his team's victory.

On the other side, Y Venugopal Rao top scored for the Hyderabad team with a 57-run knock before being sent back to the pavilion. It was, however, the third half-century by Rao in the Indian Premier League and it came off just 38 deliveries with the help of four boundaries and three sixes. Rao also shared an 86 run partnership with D Ravi Teja (37) for the fifth wicket.

The pacers for Mumbai Indians - Ashish Nehra and Bravo, gave the team a good start by bowling tight line and length and creating many opportunities in the process for their bowlers. However, Rohan Raje dropped Adam Gilchrist (13) when he failed to latch on to a catch which Gilchrist had chipped high up in the air. Afridi (0) tried to hit maximum runs from the very first ball itself as he swung his arms to slice an off-stump delivery bowled by Bravo which resulted in going up in the sky and eventually Dominic Thornley managed to hold onto it.

Bravo and Nehra gave just 20 runs in the first four overs, putting the opposite team under some heavy pressure. Pacer Dilhara Fernando then stuck twice by dismissing Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma on two consecutive deliveries in the very first over that he bowled. This left the host 20 for the loss of three wickets which left a big task for Y Venugopal Rao and Chamara Silva.

However, fighting it out, the duo put on 36 runs and doing the repair work to a certain extent but could not quite stretch their effort till the end as Silva was given out by a misjudgment by umpire Billy Doctrove when he raised his finger on a caught behind appeal.

Earlier in the day, Nayar-Bravo together put up a 53-run partnership for the fifth wicket when their team was struggling at 97 for 4, after they were being sent into bat by the opposition. RP Singh, who was the most successful bowler for the hosts, dismissed both these batsmen in the 18th over. Nayar, the top scorer for the Mumbai Indians, hit three fours and two sixes in his knock while Bravo managed to hit two boundaries and two sixes in his innings.

Dominic Thornley joined Sachin Tendulkar and the duo managed to put up 33 runs for the second wicket. However, the run rate suffered badly as the hosts bowlers bowled to a tight line and length. Afridi, finally, dealt a double blow to the Mumbai Indians as he dismissed both Tendulkar and Thornley in his second over to put his team in the driver's seat. Tendulkar hit an Afridi delivery, trying to accelerate the run rate but could not quite execute the shot and resulted in giving a simple catch to Silva.

Afridi, then trapped Thornley two balls later, which worried the Mumbai Indian's dressing room. The Mumbai Indian team never quite recovered from these two shocks and suffered to maintain a high run-rate after this.

Brief Scores

Mumbai Indians: 178/7 in 20 overs
Deccan Chargers: 153/7 in 20 overs
Result: Mumbai Indians beat Deccan Chargers by 25 runs
Man of the Match: DJ Bravo (Mumbai Indians)