Mumbai Indians claim their fifth successive win

Dwayne Bravo helped on building a competitive score

Mumbai Indians claimed their sixth Indian Premier League win in a row with a 25-run victory over the chronically underperforming Deccan Chargers.

Sanath Jayasuriya, Abhishek Nayar and Dwayne Bravo all reached 30 for the Indians and, though none could go on, they still posted a competitive total of 178 for seven.

Ashish Nehra kept Gilchrist quiet and then Sri Lankan fast bowler Dilhara Fernando, who was playing instead of Shaun Pollock, delivered the knockout by seeing off Gilchrist and Sharma in his first over to leave the Chargers reeling at 20 for 3.

Y Venugopal Rao 57 (38b, 4x4, 3x6) top scored for the Hyderabad team with a sparkling knock. While, D.B. Ravi Teja 37 (27b, 2x4, 3x6) played a fighting knock.

Earlier, Sanath Jayasuriya continued his flamboyant form, smithing 36 in just 15 balls. He and Sachin Tendulkar, who made a rather more sedtae 23 off 19 balls, got Mumbai off to a flyer and then Abhisek Hayar, with a breezy 24-ball 38 and West India all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who made 30 off 17 balls, took Mumbai up to their sizeabale, but not impregnable total.

Mumbai are now in an excellent position to reach the semi-finals, while defeat for the Chargers confirmed the inevitable - their chances of progressing are over.

The scores:

Mumbai Indians: S. Jayasuriya c R.P. Singh b Venugopala Rao 36, S. Tendulkar c Silva b Afridi 23, D. Thornely lbw b Afridi 8, A. Nayar c Sharma b R.P. Singh 38, R. Uthappa c Afridi b Venugopala 7, D. Bravo b R.P. Singh 30, P. Shah b R.P. Singh 10, Y. Takawale (not out) 5, R. Raje (not out) 1; Extras (lb-11, w-7, nb-2): 20. Total (for seven wkts in 20 overs): 178.
Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-72, 3-72, 4-96, 5-150, 6-156, 7-175.

Deccan Chargers bowling: Vijaykumar 2-0-24-0, Zoysa 3-0-37-0, Venugopala Rao 3-0-25-2, R.P. Singh 4-0-35-3, Afridi 4-0-23-2, Ojha 4-0-23-0.

Deccan Chargers: A. Gilchrist c Shah b Fernando 13, S. Afridi c Thornely b Bravo 0, R. Sharma lbw b Fernando 6, C. Silva c Takawale b Nayar 17, Y. Venugopala Rao c Shah b Bravo 57, D. Ravi Teja b Bravo 37, N. Zoysa (not out) 10, H. Das (run out) 2, R.P. Singh (not out) 3; Extras (b-1, lb-3, w-3, nb-1): 8. Total (for seven wkts in 20 overs): 153.

Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-20, 3-20, 4-56, 5-130, 6-136, 7-145.

Mumbai Indians bowling: Nehra 4-0-29-0, Bravo 4-0-24-3, Fernando 4-0-38-2, Raje 2-0-19-0, Nayar 3-0-18-1, Thornely 1-0-8-0, Jayasuriya 2-0-13-0.