A fine all-round performance from West Indian Dwayne Bravo was the cornerstone to victory for the Mumbai Indians over the Deccan Chargers on Sunday. Bravo hit a quick-fire 30 before taking three wickets as the Chargers came up 25-runs short of Mumbai's 178-7 in Hyderabad, meaning an end to Deccan's hopes of reaching the last four. The Chargers opted to field on their home ground but must have been having second thoughts as in-form opener Sanath Jayasuriya and Sachin Tendulkar made 39 from the first 17 balls. The former fell to Venugopal Rao in the third over having made 36 off 15 deliveries, but Tendulkar was more circumspect as he and Abhishek Nayar moved the score on to 72. However, regular wickets undermined the Indians' innings, Shahid Afridi snapping up Tendulkar and Dominic Thornely and taking a stunning catch to remove Robin Uthappa. Nayar top scored with 38 from 24 balls including a couple of maximums before Bravo's late cameo on his farewell appearance, but RP Singh got rid of them both to stifle the tail. Deccan would have been delighted to keep the score to 178 but their reply faltered from the start with Bravo and Dilhara Fernando making early inroads. At 20-3 from nearly five overs the hosts required something special, and Rao did his best with a brisk half century, adding 74 with Ravi Teja for the fifth wicket - both registering three sixes. But Bravo returned to snare both within the space of three balls in his second spell, and with them went any chance the Chargers may have had.
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