Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians in a Cliffhanger

Chennai Super Kings held on to their nerves till the end and pulled off a sensational 6-run win over the Mumbai Indians in a crucial IPL match in Chennai. Sachin Tendulkar again missed out because of injury. Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to field first. Hayden, Raina and Dhoni batted brilliantly to help Chennai Super Kings post 208/4 in 20 overs. Hayden scored 82. Raina made 53, while Dhoni scored a quick-fire 30. For Mumbai Indians, Bhatia took 2 wickets.

Chasing a victory target of 209, Mumbai Indians started well, but lost Jayasuriya (20) when he looked set. Ronchi was first to go, as he was run out. Mumbai Indians recovered from the loss, as Robin Uthappa scored 43 off 36 balls. Bravo too contributed 24. Once they departed, Mumbai Indians again found themselves in trouble. However, Abhishek Nayar and Harbhajan Singh added quick runs through boundaries and sixes to revive Mumbai's hope. Harbhajan departed at 28.

Mumbai Indians needed 19 runs from the last over bowled by Joginder Sharma. Nayar hit two consecutive boundaries off the first two balls. Now they needed 11 off 4 balls. Next ball was a no ball, but Nayar did the mistake of taking a single. As a result, Nehra missed the shot, even if it was a free hit. Nehra took a single on the next delivery and Mumbai Indians needed 8 from 2 balls. Nayar failed to hold on to his nerves and could manage only 1 run.

Chennai Super Kings won the match by 6 runs, as Mumbai Indians finished at 202/7 in 20 overs. Abhishek Nayar remained unbeaten on 45 off 20 balls. For Super Kings, Muralitharan and Joginder Sharma took 2 wickets each. Matthew Hayden was declared "Man of the Match".