Chennai, april 23: Joginder Sharma has risen from near-obscurity once again. India’s Twenty20 hero, out of the spotlight since last September’s effort at the Wanderers, proved on Wednesday night that the last over in Johannesburg was not exactly a flash in the pan. He might not have looked on top of the game then, and he didn’t on Wednesday against the Mumbai Indians, but he still managed to help his side eke out to a thrilling six-run victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

Chasing 208, Mumbai needed 19 runs off the last six balls. Abhishek Nayar started off by picking two consecutive boundaries. The third delivery, a no-ball, saw the batsmen change ends and Ashish Nehra, who came on strike, wasted the resulting free-hit. Though he was back on strike with eight runs to get off two balls, Nayar’s effort still saw them finish six short after his side’s experienced top-order had crumbled. He finished unbeaten on 45 off 20 balls with six boundaries and a six.

In hindsight, it must be said that Harbhajan Singh could have done more, first with the ball and later with the bat. Leading the side in Sachin Tendulkar’s absence, he preferred not to bring himself on to bowl when his team was getting clobbered in the death overs. And after playing his part in a valiant chase — he scored 28 off 14 deliveries — he lost his cool with the finish in sight, top-edging a heave off Muttiah Muralitharan.

Earlier, Harbhajan Singh won the toss and put the opposition in, a baffling decision on a pitch suited to strokeplay. The hosts raked up 208 for 5, with 65 coming in the last five overs alone. Matthew Hayden, Suresh Raina and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s brute force in the middle-overs and a sharp spell from Manpreet Gony ensured that Chennai’s bowling weaknesses were once again hidden away under a mountain of runs.

Raina overcame a wobbly start, but slowly changed gears as the overs progressed. He reached his fifty in exactly the same number of balls as Hayden — 33 — as the two provided maximum entertainment with hits that ranged from powerfuls drives to short-arm jabs over mid-wicket. At one point, Hayden actually reverse-swept the quick bowlers, such was the disdain with which he was treating the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Shaun Pollock.