MUMBAI :The defending IPL champion’s hopes of reaching the knock out stages of this years tournament were doubt a severe blow after they suffered a 63 run defeat against the Mumbai Indians..

Set a target of 179 for victory the Deccan Chargers got off to a bright start as Adam Gilchrist, aided by a runner after picking up an injury during the Indians innings and Herschelle Gibbs enjoyed an opening stand of 30 before Gibbs (17) was caught by Sachin Tendulkar to give Zaheer Khan the early break through.

Worse was to follow as VVS Laxman (4) was run out after a mix up with Ryan Harris, Gilchrist’s runner, who sent the Indian batsman back after he attempted a second run.

Two balls later Gilchrist (17) was following Laxman back to the dugout after the Aussie wicketkeeper was bowled by Khan to leave the Chargers 40-3 after they had lost 3 wickets in the space of 13 balls.

The lose of Gilchrist broke the Chargers resolve as Rohit Sharma (11) and Andrew Symonds (21) lost their wickets to leave the visitors 81-5 and facing a heavy defeat.

Monish Mishra (5), Tirumalasetti Suman (11), Ryan Harris (13), Rahul Sharma (5) and Pragyan Ojha (2) all fell cheaply as the Chargers were bowled out for 115 in the 18th over.

Having won the toss and electing to bat, the Indians got off to another composed start with Sachin Tendulkar and Shikhar Dhawan building a first wicket partnership of 53 runs to give the home side the perfect start.

The Chargers could have broken the partnership in 5th over but Adam Gilchrist failed to hold on to a think edge from Tendulkar to deny Andrew Symonds the earlier breakthrough.

The Chargers skipper made amends in the next over to stump Dhawan (14) before Tendulkar was trapped LBW by Rohit Sharma to reduce the Indians to 55-2.

The home sides stutter continued in the 8th over when Dwayne Bravo (2) was bowled by Pragyan Ojha who picked up his second wicket of the innings as the third wicket fell in the space of 18 balls

The Indians responded with a 65 run partnership between Saurabh Tiwary (44) and Rayudu which lifted the home side after the Chargers spinners had slowed the game down.

Tiwary was dropped twice 13th over after smashing two huge sixes but the Chargers responded well finally breaking the partnership in the 16th over thanks to Ryan Harris’s juggling catch out on the boundary to give the impressive Ojha his third wicket.

With his partner gone Rayudu (55) carried on his excellent innings despite needing a runner after colliding with Gilchrist during a run out attempt as the Indians reached 178-5.