Veteran batsman Sachin Tendulkar hailed his Mumbai Indians team after they turned over the Chennai Super Kings by 19 runs.

Tendulkar was named man-of-the-match after hitting an unbeaten 59 to help his side post 165 for seven after being asked to bat first by opposite number Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

In response, Chennai wilted under the pressure of chasing and eventually ended on 146 for seven.

"It's difficult to pinpoint what was the most important aspect of our win today," Tendulkar said.

"I think Abhishek Nayar batted well, then Harbhajan Singh also bowled well at a crucial period of the game and then Zaheer Khan bowled an excellent second last over as well.

"We've started well and we'd want to continue this performance thought the tournament and peak at the right time."

He also praised the newly-introduced 'strategy break', a seven-and-a-half minute time-out after 10 overs of each innings, which helped his side plan their downing of Chennai.

"Both the breaks sort of helped us," he continued. "The first one obviously gave us time to plan our strategy for the next half of the innings.

"Then during the second break, we were starting to get back in the game and getting control the game. But if you are going great guns, then you wouldn't want to stop playing."

Dhoni was philosophical about the way his side performed, but hinted that an airline company may have been responsible for their display.

He said: "I think we had an off day because there are loads of things that went wrong for us. Right from the very start, if you go back you will see.

"Albie (Morkel) was part of the side, but had to miss the game because his kitbag was misplaced by the airline. So it started off wrong for us.

"It was a good toss to win, the wicket was right, but I think we should have bowled a fraction up - we bowled quite short.

"So that's where we were let down by the bowlers, but that's okay, it happens. I think in the end there were a couple of overs in which they scored 30-35 odd runs. That was really crucial.

"Then we lost quite a few wickets up the order and later on it was tough for the batsmen to get back in the game.

"Because Baji (Harbhajan Singh) bowled very well and the run-rate went out of control. So it was an off day and hopefully we'll learn from it."