Mumbai, May 15 (IANS) Bottom placed Deccan Chargers put up an inspiring bowling performance to humble the formidable Mumbai Indians by 10 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) here Saturday.
Chargers, restricted to 135 for six, bowled their heart out to contain Mumbai Indians on a wicket that offered assistance to the pacers as well as the slower bowlers.
Ishant Sharma (2/30) and Amit Mishra (1/18), spurred by their comeback in the Indian one-day team for the West Indies tour, bowled with precision and were the catalyst in the upset win.
Anand Rajan (3/27), playing his first match of the IPL, picked up two wickets in his second over that included the prized scalp of master blaster Sachin Tendulkar (37).
Chargers, already out of contention for the top four spot, are at ninth place in the table with eight points from 12 games while Mumbai Indians are third with 16 points from the same number of matches.
Mumbai Indians, with their famed batting line-up, were expected overcome the modest target with ease but Sharma bowled brilliantly upfront to make it difficult for the home team.
Ambati Rayudu (2) gifted Sharma his wicket while attempting a fancy flick that eventually led to his stumps being castled. Sharma, however, earned the next one as he bowled a peach of a delivery to have Rohit Sharma (4) caught behind.
Barring Tendulkar, the Mumbai batsmen struggled against some quality bowling by the Chargers. If Sharma created problems at the top, Mishra and Pragyan Ojha (0/16) did not give easy runs and stifled the batsmen.
Needing 60 runs off the last 30 balls, Tendulkar and Tirumalasetti Suman (14) tried to up the pace but perished in the same over.
Earlier, the Chargers were off to a dreadful start with lethal Lasith Malinga removing England’s Michael Lumb (0) of the second ball of the match.
The batsmen found scoring tough for major part of the innings and wickets falling at regular intervals only added to the Charger’s woes.
But Shikhar Dhawan (27 not out) along with Mishra (18) brought life into the match by smashing 30 runs off the last 10 balls to take the team to a respectable total. Captain Kumar Sangakkara scored 27 off 28 balls at the top.
