Mumbai Indians skipper Sachin Tendulkar lauded his bowlers for restricting the Deccan Chargers to 145 but said some irresponsible batting in the middle stages did his side down against Deccan Chargers on Wednesday night.
Rohit Sharma scored a breezy 38 and then picked up four wickets, including a hat-trick to help Deccan Chargers beat Mumbai Indians by 19 runs in their Indian Premier League match at Centurion.
Tendulkar made special mention about wicket-keeper batsman Pinal Shah's 19-ball 29-run cameo up the order, but came hard on his batters' lackluster show in the middle of their run chase.
"I thought the bowlers did a fantastic job. It was the batting in the middle stages that didn't go according to our plan. Pinal batted really well, he kept the scoreboard ticking quite nicely. But it's just that in between overs we lost wickets and didn't score many runs," Tendulkar said.
"Pinal was sent in for a specific role and he executed it to perfection. He has done his job, the rest of the guys now have to pick up," he added.
The master blaster, who himself failed to make any mark in the match, scoring just two, felt the wicket was perfect to chase a target around 160.
"I thought the ball was coming on quite nicely. It was a good wicket, 160 was a possible target."
Meanwhile, winning captain Adam Gilchrist said the win against the Mumbai Indians was very crucial to determine his side's fortune in the tournament, especially after three consecutive defeats.
"It seems these totals have been competitive right across the country. Unfortunately, all teams wanted few more, but it was great fighting by the guys at the end.
"In these grounds with short boundaries, the guys struck well today. A lot of talking and a lot of planning charged up. It's a big win for us. We really needed it," the wicket-keeper batsman said.
The Australian also felt getting Sanath Jayasuriya and Tendulkar's wicket early was crucial to their success.
"Ryan took a great catch of Jayasuriya and then RP (Singh) bowled a beautiful ball to Sachin. Obviously, getting early wickets, especially a batsman of a calibre like Sachin is highly important," he said.
Gilchrist was full of praise for man-of-the-match Rohit Sharma who single-handedly changed the fortune of the match in the Chargers' favour.
"He was fantastic both with the bat and the ball."
He said that although the Chargers didn't play to their potential tonight, still it feels soothing to be back on winning ways.
"Certainly we didn't play our best tonight but it's nice to be back at the top of the ladder."
