Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 56 and Lasith Malinga took 3/9 as the Mumbai Indians proved to be too good for the Deccan Chargers, beating them by 37 runs in game 27 of IPL-4 at Hyderabad on Sunday.
Earlier, Malinga castled Kumar Sangakkara and then accounted for Ravi Teja as Mumbai took a firm grip of the match.
Kieron Pollard got rid of Bharat Chipli as Deccan lost their 4th wicket against Mumbai .
Malinga yorked Shikhar Dhawan and then followed it up with a brilliant run out of Cameron White.
The Deccan Chargers' chase did not get off to the best of starts as opener Sunny Sohal was run out.
Rohit Sharma and Andrew Symonds scripted a fantastic recovery with a record fifth wicket partnership as title contenders Mumbai scored 172 for four in their 20 overs.
Rohit (56 not out, 34 balls, 5x4, 3x6) and Symonds (44 not out, 33 balls, 4x4, 1x6) added 102 runs off only 65 balls for the unbroken fifth wicket after MI were tottering at 70 for four at the start of the 10th over. Incidentally, the duo played together for Chargers during the first three editions.
The duo thrashed Dale Steyn and Dan Christian for 16 and 24 runs respectively to score 40 off the last two overs. Christian went for 48 runs from his four wicketless overs.
Davy Jacobs (32, 20 balls, 5x4, 1x6) who was back in the squad opened with 'Birthday Boy' Sachin Tendulkar. It was Jacobs who started the initial onslaught as MI scored 47 runs in the first five overs before he was caught by Pragyan Ojha off Ishant Sharma's bowling.
All eyes were on birthday boy Tendulkar who turned 38 on Sunday. Tendulkar on Sunday got the 'Orange Cap' back from Paul Valthaty and is now the highest run-getter in the ongoing IPL.
Cheered by daugher Sarah and son Arjun who were seen waving MI flags from stands, the legend hit a few crisp boundaries and again looked like making a substancial contribution.
But to their utter disappointment, the maestro scored only 28(24 balls, 4x4) before he was holed out in the deep by Steyn off Amit Mishra's bowling.
Tendulkar charged out but failed to get to the pitch of a flighted delivery from Mishra as Steyn took a well judged catch at long-on.Tendulkar's dismissal triggered a collapse as MI from 70 for one slumped to 70 for four within a space of six deliveries.
Ambati Rayudu (7) who has had a good tournament so far played an ugly sweep shot off Mishra two balls later. Shikhar Dhawan stationed at deep square leg timed his jump to perfection send Rayudu back in the hut.
Kieron Pollard who has hardly batted in the tournament was promoted up the order but he tried a delicate paddle shot off Pragyan Ojha's bowling and the ball lobbed up for skipper Sangakkara to take a simple catch.
Rohit and Symonds then started a repair job. They were cautious for a couple of overs before they started playing their strokes. Symonds' first boundary was swatted shot off Christian over mid-off. Rohit also played some classy shots as they added 50 runs off only 45 deliveries.
Symonds showed his class in the penultimate over bowled by Steyn. He started with a crashing shot over extra cover for four. He followed it up with a six effortlessly hit over long on. Then he took a couple and followed it with another drive through the cover region.
If Symonds got 16 runs off the 19th over Rohit got 24 off the last.
Not the one to be left behind, Rohit smashed six off Christian over long-on brought the team's 150. Two balls later he hit him over deep mid-wicket for another six and the next ball soared in to the deep square leg stands as Rohit completed his back-to-back fifty. He signed off with a straight drive which also brough the 100 run partnership for the duo.
