A superb all-round effort from man-of-the-match Rohit Sharma -- 38 and 4 for 6 in two overs, including a hat trick -- enabled Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai Indians by 19 runs in their Indian Premier League match in SuperSport Park, Centurion, on Wednesday.
Chasing a modest 146 to win, Mumbai made a mess of the chase and finished at 126 for eight.
J P Duminy was the lone Mumbai batsman to play an innings of any worth, his 48-ball 52 containing seven boundaries. But he was desperately let down by his teammates.
This was the Hyderabad team's second successive win over Mumbai in the competition, having got the better of them in their opening match-up at Durban.
Earlier, some accurate bowling by the Mumbai Indians' bowlers helped them restrict Deccan, who held on to the fourth position going into the match mainly due their four straight wins at the start.
With this win, Deccan managed to arrest their run of three straight defeats in their last three matches. They move to second.
The Mumbai team, second from bottom at the start, stay put in the table, but they now have four defeats to just three wins.
Hyderabad innings:
Sachin Tendulkar was again unlucky in the opening match between the two sides at Durban too he hadn't called correctly -- at the toss and his Hyderabad counterpart Adam Gilchrist made a predictable choice electing to bat first.
His side however made a tentative start. Herschelle Gibbs, who had scored a masterclass 58 when the sides had met in Kingsmead, failed to open his account on this occasion.
He hung around for five balls before playing a Dhaval Kulkarni delivery away from the body and hitting it straight to Tendulkar at first slip.
The 20-year-old Kulkarni, who had replaced the injured Zaheer Khan in the MI squad, had managed a breakthrough in his first over.
Gilchrist, on the other hand, lived dangerously early on, one of his shots falling just short of the midwicket fielder.
Tendulkar introduced Harbhajan Singh inside the Powerplay (in the fifth over) and Hyderabad expressed their gratitude by taking 15 of the off-spinner.
The in form T Suman inflicted all the damage with two maximums, both clearing the long off fence by a huge margin.
Dwayne Bravo was introduced in the sixth over and the West Indies all rounder ensured MI their second breakthrough.
Bravo's second ball was banged short and Suman (20/13) almost popped a return catch, the bowler failing to get to the right position on time. However, in the next bal there were no doubts as Pinal Shah made no mistake behind the stumps.
Gilchrist cleared the midwicket fence for the maximum in Harbhajan's second over and Rohit Sharma repeated the act of Rohan Raje.
However, Raje had the last word castling the stumps of Gilchrist (25/29) in the final over before the strategic time out to ensure Hyderabad headed into break in a spot of bother at 63 for three.
Dwayne Smith tried to cut loose post resumption, a leg glance of Sanath Jayasuriya going all the way to the fence and a massive hit of Raje clearing the midwicket fence.
But the West Indies all rounder made a mistake similar to that of his captain and that Jayasuriya delivery crashed into his middle stump.
Sharma top scored with 38 of 36 (2x4, 1x6) before falling to a spectacular catch by Bravo at long on of Malinga.
Some lusty hitting by Venugopal Rao (28/17) towards the end gave the Hyderabad total a semblance of respectability.
Mumbai innings:
If Hyderabad made a tentative start, Mumbai went a step further. The second over of their innings, bowled by RP Singh, ensured Hyderabad a double breakthrough, back-to-back at that.
And the two batsmen to depart were, without doubt, Mumbai's best.
A splendid catch by Harris at third man got rid of the dangerous Jayasuriya (5/7), and off the next ball, Tendulkar was cleaned up by an inswinging yorker.
Mumbai two down after the opening couple of overs and with just seven runs on board.
The dual strike also ensured R P Singh regained the Purple cap for most wickets in the tournament (15).
J P Duminy and Shah put together a 53-run partnership for the third wicket in just seven overs to put the Mumbai chase back on track.
The latter was the more aggressive of the two, making 29 of just 19 balls with three boundaries and two huge ones over it, both of Smith, one getting past the deep square leg fence and the second clearing the long-on boundary.
But amidst all his aggressive, Shah forgot to add in his batting another factor that ensures smooth sailing -- caution.
And he paid the price for it, holing out to Smith at long-on off Suman, in the penultimate over before the strategic time-out.
Mumbai went into the break at 71 for three, slightly ahead of Hyderabad in terms of runs (the latter had made 63) but having lost as many wickets.
After resumption, Duminy and Bravo (13/16) took their fourth-wicket partnership to 37 before the latter was brilliantly caught by Harris at long-off, giving the fielder his second catch and the bowler his second wicket.
With five overs to go Mumbai required 46 and seemed well in control.
Duminy completed a well-deserved half-century, his third in the tournament, with a cheeky singles off Sharma. The well-set South African was going to be crucial to Mumbai's fortunes, albeit with some help from the remaining batters.
But the help was not coming.
Off the next ball, Abhishek Nayar (1/4) played across and witnessed his stumps get dismantled; and next ball, Sharma got his second successive wicket when Harbhajan edged to his stumps.
In the next over, Mumbai got two lifelines with Suman dropping both Duminy and Saurabh Tiwary.
But in the next over Sharma completed his hat-trick, having Duminy caught by Gilchrist. It was the second hat-trick in the tournament following Yuvraj Singh's feat for Kings XI Punjab.
And two balls later, Sharma added yet another wicket to his kitty, having Tiwary (3/5) stumped by his captain.
From 100 for four after 15 overs, Mumbai had slumped to 112 for eight after 18, all thanks to some reckless batting.
Raje smashed the last ball of the penultimate over (by Harris) over the deep midwicket fence.
However, despite that hit Mumbai required a massive 25 runs from RP Singh's last over and it was a lost cause to say the least.
For the record, Mumbai managed only five from the last six balls.
