Mumbai Indians captain Sachin Tendulkar on Saturday hailed Deccan Chargers' spinner Pragyan Ojha, who he believes took away the match from them with his brilliant spell.
Ojha weaved his magic with the ball claiming three for 21 in his four overs to help Deccan win by 12 runs and was deservedly named the man of the match.
"Yeah, I thought till the 10 overs in the first half we were doing quite well but thereafter we lost a bit of momentum and lost wickets and didn't score enough runs.
"Most of the time we were in control but we lost it in between when Pragyan Ojha came to bowl," said Tendulkar who made a brisk 36.
Asked whether the strategy break affected their momentum, Tendulkar, a stern critic of the concept, said, " This has [time out] gone against us, hopefully next time it favours us."
He, however, ruled out any possibility of changing the composition of the team for the next match before having a look at the pitch.
"I have to go and look at the wicket before taking any decision but I am quite happy with the way we have approached the game so far."
Asked whether the wash out against Rajasthan Royals had any affect on the result, he said, "To certain extent because we are all set to play the last match against Rajasthan. I though those five six days in between we didn't get match practice as such. But no excuses, I think in the next match we will be able to put up a good show."
Victorious skipper Adam Gilchrist was delighted with the form of his side that finished at the last place in the inaugural edition of the event last year.
Deccan Chargers have been on a roll this season and are sitting pretty at the top of the points table with three consecutive wins.
"It's a nice start. We picked up a little milestone, we got lot more points than last year and that's quite pleasing," the former Australian wicket-keeper said.
"It's nice to see the enthusiasm in the group, both among the playing and the non-playing members. The outfit is quite unified and these are encouraging signs," he added.
Ojha, meanwhile, admitted that he was little nervous while bowling to Tendulkar.
"I was very nervous. I was bowling to the best batsman in the world. I am happy that my team backed me and supported me. They told me that if I put in effort, I can do it and I did it for my team," he said.
