Mumbai Indians brought the seemingly unbeatable Chennai Super Kings back down to earth in some style at the Wankhede Stadium, with the home side running out winners by a massive 60 runs in their IPL 2013 game.
The much-vaunted CSK batting failed quite dramatically, as the Mumbai Indians bowled out MS Dhoni's men for a mere 79 runs - their lowest ever total in IPL -- after Mumbai had posted a battling 139 for five in their 20 overs.
CSK's unbeaten seven-match screeched to a halt in the process, but they still remain well clear at the top on 18 points, with nine wins in 12 games.
Mumbai Indians moved up to third with the win, above Sunrisers Hyderabad as a result of a better nett run rate, but below Royal Challengers Bangalore, who have the same seven wins in 11 games.
The second innings began in quite unbelievable circumstances. Kieron Pollard, one of the best fielders in the world - possibly the best fielder in the world - dropped the in-form Michael Hussey three times off Mitchell Johnson in three consecutive deliveries.
The fourth, fifth and sixth ball from Johnson in the first over, was cut by Hussey towards point - all of them straight at Pollard - with the West Indian, whose hands are big enough to easily snaffled three cricket balls at once, dropping all of them, with each catch easier than the previous one.
After that quite staggering three-ball spell, it was all the Mumbai Indians, as the home side dismantled the CSK batting lineup with ease.
First to go was Murali Vijay, in for the injured Wriddhiman Saha, playing on to a wide delivery from Johnson, proving that luck had not deserted the fast bowler completely.
Johnson (three for 27) was on a hat-trick after the next delivery, with Raina top-edging a ball towards point, while playing across the line, and, yes, Pollard taking a brilliant diving low catch - the Mumbai Indian apparently does not do easy catches.
The bowling gods were now smiling on Johnson - and deservedly too - as the Australian picked up his third wicket in the over, trapping Subramaniam Badrinath in front of the stumps off a ball that swung in.
Dwayne Bravo looked to counter-attack, but holed out at extra cover to Ambati Rayudu off Pawan Suyal. R Ashwin followed suit soon after, before Hussey and MS Dhoni looked to bring some semblance of normalcy back to the innings.
It was not to be, though, once the dup got out as Mumbai Indians ran over the rest of the batsmen to pick up an impressive win.
Earlier, it was a pretty sedate innings from Mumbai Indians, who could not find that extra gear to get anywhere near a big score, as they were bogged down by a slow start.
Dwayne Smith impressed in his first few games in IPL 2013, but his primary job is to give Mumbai Indians a fast start.
Over the past two-three games, though, the West Indian has struggled to push the scoreboard along, and with Sachin Tendulkar far from scary in this format, it gave CSK an opportunity to strangle the home side.
The likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Mohit Sharma and Chris Morris kept things tight in the powerplay overs - Mumbai Indians scored just 32 runs despite not losing a wicket -- before the openers fell in the space of an over.
Jadeja first picked up the wicket of Tendulkar, trapping the Little Master in front of the wicket for a 16-ball 15.
Smith (22, 24b, 2x4, 1x6) joined his partner in the pavilion in the next over, top-edging a short ball from Bravo, with the CSK all-rounder himself completing the catch. There was the now customary jig following after the wicket as the rest CSK started to take control.
Bravo nearly snared another of his national teammate Kieron Pollard two balls later, but failed to hang on to a shot hit straight back at him.
It did not matter much, however, as Jadeja (three for 23) dismissed Pollard in the next over. The big West Indian's attempt at taking the bowling on fell flat, holing out to Raina at long-on.
Jadeja's final over - the 12th over of the innings -- was quite entertaining. Dinesh Karthik, clearly fed up with the slow nature of the innings decided to take matters into his own hands, and looked like succeeding, when he smashed "Sir Jadeja" for two fours and a maximum.
However, the left-armer had the last laugh - as he always does nowadays -- as Karthik (23, 23b, 2x4, 1x6) holed out to Raina at midwicket while going for yet another big strike.
The onus was again on Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma to rescue his side and ensure the bowlers had something substantial to defend, as Ambati Rayudu also failed with the bat - castled by R Ashwin.
Sharma (39, 30b, 3x4, 1x6) combined well with Harbhajan Singh (25, 11b, 2x4, 2x6) in the final overs, with the duo putting on 57 runs in under five overs for the sixth wicket, as the Mumbai Indians set a decent target of 139 for five.
