Kieron Pollard's 66-run blitz at the end of the innings helped Mumbai beat Hyderabad by seven wickets and climb up the points table to second as of Wednesday.

Chasing 179, Mumbai lost opener Dwayne Smith in the fourth over for 21. Sachin Tendulkar and Dinesh Karthik kept the innings going by scoring 73 in the first ten overs, at a rate of 7.30. At that stage the hosts needed 106 runs from 60 balls to keep their clean home-record intact.

Their plans received a jolt when Tendulkar retired hurt in the 12th over, and Karthik was dismissed two balls later. Ambati Rayadu continued Mumbai's procession and was dismissed two overs later.

Mumbai needed an improbable 62 runs from the last four overs, and looked to Kieron Pollard and their captain, Rohit Sharma, to produce the goods.

Sharma sounded the war-cry in the 17th over, hitting Thisara Perera for six off the first ball. Pollard followed his cue and cut loose. He dispatched Perera for a four and three sixes from consecutive deliveries in the same over. The onslaught left Mumbai with a gettable 33 to get from 18 balls.

Hyderabad's captain, Cameron White, turned to spin to stub the run rate, but that didn't work either as Pollard clubbed Amit Mishra for three sixes in the 18th. The relentless hitting left Mumbai with 12 to get from 12 balls. The Mumbai-pair left it till the 20th over to clinch the win as Pollard once again slapped Perera for two sixes.

"18-runs an over, at that point of time, was a matter of trying to get in and see how deep we can take the game," Pollard said. "It was a matter of trying to choose the bowler and backing yourself to play each ball on its merits and choose the bowler you want to hit.

"It's really hard to judge if it was my best knock. It is a match-wining innings and that's most important to me. You come out on some days and hit the ball. It's just a matter of backing yourself."

Adam Gilchrist announced his return to form with a 54-ball 85 to help Punjab beat Bangalore in their own backyard by seven wickets on Tuesday.

Chasing a stiff 175, Punjab needed a steady start from their opener's Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh. But the latter fell for eight in the third over. His departure brought Azhar Mahmood to the crease. The experienced duo struggled initially but Mahmood broke the shackles in the sixth over, smacking Moises Henriques for three consecutive boundaries.

Gilchrist hit Jaydev Unadkat for two fours in the ninth over, and continued trying to find the middle of his bat until the 14th over, when he struck a sweetly timed six down the ground. They kept their side in the chase by rotating the strike and hitting the odd boundary when the run rate increased.

With the required rate hovering at 8.66 in the 15th over, Punjab's batsmen needed to attack, and they did. Gilchrist, who had played second fiddle to Mahmood till then, cut loose. He was lucky to an extent as some edges found the boundary.

But he wrestled advantage in the 17th over when he charged Muttiah Muralitharan and hit him for two straight sixes. The onslaught left Punjab with 13 runs to get off 18 balls and Gilchrist and R Satish took their side home.

"I think Azhar gave us the impetus with the bat," Gilchrist said. "I was scratching around to be honest and he came in and played his natural game.

"I continued to try and attack, but was barely clearing the 30-meter circle. So I thought I would give him the strike and that loosened me up a little. After the first four overs, I thought I made an error in judgement by bowling, as a couple kept low, but once the lights came on, it came on nicely and got better."