CHENNAI, April 24: In a repeat show of the Twenty20 World Cup final, Joginder Sharma lived upto captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s expectation and sent down a crucial final over as Chennai Super Kings pipped Mumbai Indians by six runs in a thrilling Indian Premier League on Wednesday.

Harbhajan Singh (28) and Abhishek Nayar’s (45 not out) spectacular rearguard action had the Mumbai side needing 19 off the last over when Dhoni tossed the ball to Joginder.

The bowler conceded two fours in a row and bowled a no ball as well. But he kept his cool in the end and kept it tight as Mumbai Indians eventually finished on 202 for seven.

Chasing 209, Mumbai looked in dire straits with its top order firing blank. The Abhishek-Harbhajan duo, however, refused to give up and waged a grim battle.

They stuttered early in the chase with Luke Ronchi (2) falling cheaply and Sanath Jayasuriya (20) departing just when he was looking dangerous.

Robin Uthappa (43), however, took the Chennai attack by the scruff of the neck and milked 19 runs from a Jacob Oram over to spice things up.

Mumbai seemed back on the track but Joginder retained his penchant to rise on the occasions and castled Uthappa to deal a deadly blow. Uthappa’s 36-ball knock included six fours and a six.

Shaun Pollock (17) to sizzled for a while and so did Dwayne Bravo (24). With the asking run rate skyrocketing, Harbhajan and Abhishek threw bat at everything that resulted in some lusty shots as well but it was too late by then.

Earlier, Matthew Hayden blasted 81 and featured in a century stand with Suresh Raina (53) as Chennai Super Kings amassed 208 for five.

With a 46-ball knock that was studded with 12 fours and two sixes, Hayden once again proved the thorn in the flesh for Harbhajan, who led the Mumbai side in absence of their regular captain Sachin Tendulkar, down with a groin injury.

Harbhajan, finally, found some solace when his direct throw caught Hayden short of ground towards the end of the innings Put into bat, the Chennai Super Kings got off to a rollicking start with Parthiv Patel (14) and Hayden putting on 34 runs in the first three overs before Ashish Nehra applied the brake.

Nehra had Parthiv caught behind and five runs later, Mike Hussey (5) too was back in the hut after dragging a Dhaval Kulkarni delivery onto his stumps.

In Raina, Hayden found an able ally and the duo scored at a brisk rate. Raina was fluent as he smote Dwayne Bravo, Harbhajan Singh and Abhishek Nayar over the ropes to keep pace with Hayden, who was his aggressive self at the other end as they put on a century stand.

The duo put on 104 runs in about 10 overs before Raina holed out to Bravo to depart after a 37-ball knock that included three sixes and as many boundaries.

Hayden, however, maintained the momentum and though Harbhajan pressed into service as many as eight bowlers, including himself, runs came thick and fast. Dhoni (30) chipped in with a 16-ball cameo to take the side past the 200-mark.—Agencies