From correspondents in Africa, 05:01 PM IST

Rohit Sharma surprised everyone with his hat-trick against Mumbai Indians but the Deccan Chargers' batsman said he was never in doubt about his bowling credentials.

Deccan Chargers Wednesday beat Mumbai Indians by 19 runs. Rohit first chipped in with a well struck 38 off 36 balls and then as a part-time off-spinner removed Abhishek Nayyar, Harbhajan Singh and Jean Paul Duminy in successive balls.

'I am happy that I scored and later took the hat-trick. I always had the confidence in my bowling and I am happy it came out good today,' Rohit was quoted as saying by the Iplt20.com. 'I had been bowling at the international level but I haven't been regular with it.'

Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist said bowlers won the match for them.

'Though we would have liked to put some more runs on the board, a total of 145 wasn't bad,' he said. 'Our bowlers came up with a terrific performance.

'Harris took a brilliant catch of Sanath Jayasuriya and with Sachin Tendulkar falling off the very next ball, the pressure was on the Mumbai Indians. The impact was huge. Later Rohit and Suman bowled so well that we didn't feel the absence of (Pragyan) Ojha. He will be fine for the next game.'

(Staff Writer, © IANS)