The Kingsmead crowd was witness to a hard-fought contest between two evenly-matched teams and, after several twists and turns, Deccan Chargers, winners of last year’s wooden spoon clinched a tense battle against Mumbai Indians. Deccan overcame several setbacks – a middle-order collapse, an assault from Sachin Tendulkar and JP Duminy, and a spirited push towards the target from Mumbai’s tail – to secure their third straight victory of the tournament.

Deccan Chargers’ overseas batsmen, who failed to fire in unison last season, thrived in excellent batting conditions and put their team on course for a large total at Kingsmead. Mumbai Indians, however, fought back by taking three wickets in the space of seven balls just as Deccan were preparing to accelerate in the last five overs and restricted them to 168 for 9.

Herschelle Gibbs took charge of playing the steady innings at one end, while Adam Gilchrist and Dwayne Smith, the former Mumbai Indians player who replaced Scott Styris, attacked at the other. The result was spectacular and Deccan were 124 in the 13th over when Smith was bowled by Sanath Jayasuriya. Mumbai regained lost ground in the 15th over when Dwayne Bravo had Rohit Sharma and VVS Laxman caught at deep cover and midwicket but the crucial blow was struck in the next.

Gibbs drove Zaheer down the ground and was called back for the second by Venugopal Rao, who then changed his mind and left Gibbs to be run out on 58. Mumbai’s experienced bowling attack seized the opportunity – Lasith Malinga picked up 3 for 19 with searing yorkers – and ensured that Deccan managed only 43 runs off the last seven overs for the loss of seven wickets.

The target of 169 was several runs short of what Deccan looked like setting when Gilchrist and Gibbs got going. Gilchrist took four balls to get his eye in against Lasith Malinga before lofting the fast bowler over the long-on boundary. He hit two more sixes, one an outside edge over third-man off Zaheer Khan and the other a thunderous hit over deep midwicket off Bravo. He was deft as well, opening the face to use the pace of Malinga and Harbhajan Singh’s quicker deliveries to pick the gaps behind square on the off side.

Gibbs was lucky at the start of the innings and collected two boundaries through edges past the wicketkeeper. However, he showed good touch by charging Zaheer and clubbing him past mid-off. Gibbs allowed Gilchrist to take the risks and after the left-hander was caught behind off Bravo for 35 off 20 balls, Deccan sent Smith in at No. 3 to keep the momentum going.

Smith punched his first ball, off Bravo, through cover point for four and took on Jayasuriya, slog-sweeping him for six and powering a drive to the extra-cover boundary. Deccan were 88 for 1 after 10 overs and the acceleration came two overs later when Dhawal Kulkarni was introduced into the attack. Gibbs smashed him for six over square leg and sliced him behind point while Smith launched him over midwicket to take 18 runs of the over.

Jayasuriya, however, made the vital breakthrough, dismissing Smith for 35 off 22 balls, and began Mumbai’s fightback. Bravo and Malinga were miserly towards the death with the Sri Lankan fast bowler bowling a double-wicket maiden in the last over.

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