Two games ago, the Mumbai Indians had eight wins from their 10 games and looked good to top the table. Now, they have lost two in a row, and need to win one of their remaining two to ensure qualification to the next stage of the Indian Premier League. 
After going down to the Kings XI Punjab in the previous game, they were up against the bottom-placed Deccan Chargers and for 19 overs while their opponents were batting, they looked like they were going to get back to their winning trail again. Then, in the 20th over, tail-ender, Amit Mishra smoked the Mumbai Indians bowler Munaf Patel for four boundaries and 23 runs in total to take the Deccan score from a woeful 112 in 19 overs to a competitive 135 in the 20. That was the turning point of the game and the Mumbai Indians did not recover from those blows again.
That said, even on a turning track, the target of 136 should have been achieved, especially with the kind of batting that the Mumbai Indians have shown in the tournament so far. The top-order caved in like an ancient roof and the middle-order had no option but to try and see through the spinners without losing too many wickets. By the time, the Deccan Chargers spinners have bowled their quota of 10 overs β thatβs from Pragyan Ojha, Mishra and JP Duminy β the Mumbai Indians have scored only 37 runs in those overs and were staring down the barrel.
Sachin Tendulkar batted till 16th over but could only muster 37 in the 42 balls. The others before him had failed to get into double-figures β Aiden Blizzard scored 1, Ambati Rayadu made 2, Rohit Sharma hit one boundary before getting out while Andrew Symonds got 8.
T Suman struggled for most part of his 13 balls but his two sixes in those deliveries provided the necessary impetus. However, the Mumbai Indians seemed to have left things for too late when they required 50 off the last three overs. Pollard did his best but without support, fell short of the target.
Earlier, the Chargers had overcome a woefully sluggish start to find some kind of a traction in the middle. Michael Lumb, making his IPL debut this year got out for a duck and from then, it was all downhill. Till, of course, Mishra made a telling statement by hitting Munaf Patel for four boundaries off the last four deliveries.