The left-handed Gilchrist was in splendid form and carted the bowlers all around the park to delight the capacity crowd of 55,000 at the D Y Patil Stadium while powering his way to a record-setting 42-ball 100.

The blitzkrieg by the retired Australian wicketkeeper-batsman, who bettered his compatriot and teammate Andrew Symonds’ 47-ball hundred against Rajasthan Royals, made short work of the target and helped the Hyderabad team break its victory drought after three straight losses.

Gilchrist remained unbeaten after facing 47 balls while at the other end, captain V V S Laxman made an attractive 37 not out. Deccan Chargers achieved the target of 155 without losing a wicket in only 12.4 overs. Mumbai had made 154 for seven in their 20 overs.

Gilchrist took full advantage of a wayward spell from Ashish Nehra to get into the groove. He then punished Shaun Pollock, who led the home team, by whipping the former South African all-rounder for three sixes and a four in the latter’s second over.

The 50 was raised in 31 balls and Gilchrist, whose previous highest for the Hyderabad franchise team was 23, reached his own in spectacular style by carting Pollock for a six over long leg. He then raced to his second 50 in only 14 balls by smashing Abhishek Nayar for three sixes in an over and then continued in the same vein to pilot his team to a resounding victory and hand Mumbai their fourth defeat in as many ties.

Earlier, Mumbai Indians put up yet another poor batting display. Put in to bat, the home team, without the services of the injured Sachin Tendulkar for the fourth match running as well as the suspended Harbhajan Singh, could not recover well from a poor start of 18 for two. Pollock made a run-a-ball 31, Nayar smashed 34 in 19 balls and Bravo made 34 in 20 balls.

Cable theft
Mumbai next play Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, where there was more controversy on Monday with the discovery of a cable theft.

The theft of altogether 500 metres of power and telecom cables from three points of the stadium comes as a big setback for the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB).

CAB treasurer Tushar Sarkar, assured that Tuesday's match would not be affected as the cables were replaced. "There will be no problem in the functioning of the light towers," he said.

SCORE BOARD
Mumbai Indians: Ronchi c Laxman b Singh 13; Jayasuriya c Sharma b Afridi 18; Rahane c Ojha b Bangar 0; Uthappa c Gilchrist b Afridi 6; Pollock b Bangar 31; Nayar c Gilchrist b Zoysa 34; Bravo c Ojha b R P Singh 34; M Khote (not out) 7; Extras (B-2, LB-4, W-3, NB-2) 11. Total (for 7 wickets, in 20 overs) 154.

Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-18, 3-27, 4-55, 5-79, 6-122, 7-154.

Bowling: RP Singh 4-1-15-2, N Zoysa 4-0-30-1, S Bangar 4-0-34-2, S Afridi 4-0-32-2, P Ojha 2-0-14-0, D Kalyankrishna 2-0-23-0.

Deccan Chargers: Gilchrist (not out) 109; Laxman (not out) 36. Extras (B-4, LB-2, W-4) 10. Total (for no loss in 12.4 overs) 155.

Bowling: Nehra 2-0-19-0, Pollock 2-0-33-0, Kulkarni 1-0-8-0, Jayasuriya 2-0-17-0, Chitnis 2-0-20-0, Bravo 2.4-0-30-0, Nayar 1-0-22-0.