MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar and Shikhar Dhawan hit sparkling half-centuries as Mumbai Indians upended Chennai Super Kings by five wickets to soar to the top of the points’ table of the Indian Premier League here tonight.
Dhawan (56 off 34 balls) dominated the 92-run opening stand with Tendulkar (72 off 52 balls) to lay the foundation for a successful chase and the Mumbai Indian skipper lingered nearly till the end as the home side cruised to 181 for five in 19 overs for their fourth victory in five matches.
Earlier put into bat, Chennai Super Kings rode on the unbeaten 142-run stand between Suresh Raina (83) and Subramaniam Badrinath (55) to post a competitive 180 for two which in the end proved inadequate.
With Dhawan setting alight the Brabourne Stadium with his fifth IPL fifty, Mumbai Indians' chase got off to a flier as boundaries came thick and fast.
Tendulkar was not at his fluent best early on but Dhawan's clean hitting glossed over even that as the home side cruised along.
Dhawan hit Joginder Sharma for three fours in his first over and smote L Balaji for back-to-back sixes to make his intention clear.
A massive six off Shadab Jakati brought up his fifth IPL fifty but the left-arm spinner settled score in the same over when Raina pouched Dhawan's miscued shot.
Muttiah Muralitharan did not allow Saurabh Tiwary (2) to bloom, while Joginder castled R Sathish (5) but Dhoni dropped Tendulkar off Jakati when the batsman was on 23 and the batting great did not look back since then.
Desperate for a breakthrough, Dhoni pressed Thissera Perera in service but the Sri Lankan bled 19 runs in his maiden over and the match was in Mumbai Indians' pocket by then.
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