Hyderabad, May 18: Playing his last match before returning to the Caribbean, Dwayne Bravo turned in a match-winning all-round performance to lead the Mumbai Indians to their sixth straight win in the IPL.

At the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderbad the Bravo-led Indians eased to a 25 run win over hosts Deccan Chargers. The West Indian scored a quickfire 30 off 17 balls and later accounted for three crucial wickets to hold back the Chargers.

Shaun Pollock took his place in the dug out on Sunday but Mumbai Indians did not miss him too much. Sri Lankan Dilhara Fernando, the injured South African’s replacement, dismissed Adam Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma in the fifth over of the Chargers’ innings, which derailed their chase of 179 and earned the Mumbai Indians crucial points.

Chargers’ captain Gilchrist had a bad day at the office. He missed two stumpings off left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha. The second one, off Abhishek Nayar, hurt his team badly as the left-hander went on to score 38 off just 24 balls. When the Chargers skipper came out to bat, his straight-driven boundary off Ashish Nehra in the third over, and his cautious approach, suggested he was determined to see his side home. When he was dropped at mid, one felt it was going to be Gilly’s day. But he could not resist the temptation of playing an upper cut when Dilhara pitched a short one on the off stump. The catch was too easy for thirdman fielder Pinal Shah to drop.

As Shahid Afridi had already departed in the second over going for the big one off the first ball he faced, all hopes rested on Rohit Sharma, who started with an audacious hook. But Dilhara dismissed him with an inswinger which trapped the batsman plumb in front of the wicket. Chamara Silva, playing his first match in the IPL, flattered to deceive. After hitting three boundaries, he edged one to wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale off Nayar.

The most valiant fight came from the local boys — Venugopala Rao and Ravi Teja. But they were left with too much to do. Nevertheless, both went for their shots fearlessly. Venu hit Nehra out of the ground twice during his 58-run knock. He scored the only half-century of the match in just 32 balls. Teja was not to be left behind. He pulled Dilhara into the stands over square leg and then hit Bravo into the stands before being bowled off the next ball.

Earlier, the Chargers came up with a much-improved performance on the field. They were lightning fast in their movements, and at one stage, the bowlers seemed to have found the perfect length and line for each batsman. As a result, the Chargers restricted the Indians to a manageable 178.

The 54-run partnership in 30 balls between Dwayne Bravo and Nayar was mostly responsible for that score. Before they came together, the Chargers’ spinners had made even that score improbable with some accurate and penetrative bowling.

After Sanath Jayasuriya got off to a blazing start once again, Venugopala Rao brought the Chargers back into the game in the third over, when he had the southpaw caught at deep square leg by R.P. Singh. After hitting him for a boundary through that region, Jayasuriya went for a six but found R.P.

Jayasuriya’s opening partner Sachin Tendulkar hit four exquisite boundaries but never looked to be in devastating form. Sensing that time was running out, he went for an inside out lofted shot off Afridi, which did not come off. Chamara Silva grabbed the chance at wide mid off.

Dominic Thornley fell a ball later when he misread Afridi’s wrong’un and was trapped in front of the wicket. The double blow weighed down Robin Uthappa and Nayar.

Afridi and Pragyan Ojha made life difficult for the batsmen and but for Gilchrist’s sloppy glovework, Pragyan would have broken the partnership. That lapse proved costly in the end.