Herschelle Gibbs turned the praise on to captain Adam Gilchrist after hitting an unbeaten 69 to guide DC to victory.

While Gibbs carried his bat and smashed the final-over six that effectively settled the contest, he put the focus on Gilchrist's 44 off 19 balls as the contribution that set up Deccan for victory.

"I didn't really have to do much in those first few overs with Gilly firing like that," Gibbs said on Setanta. "He's set the tone for the rest of the innings."

He added: "I don't think you have a plan, you just go out to maximise those first few overs. You're supposed to get yourself in, but Gilly just goes for it from ball one."

Gilchrist himself looked at the whole team effort, not least the bowlers who restricted Chennai to 165 for six after a strong start of their own.

"It's good for us to get home again in a tight one and that will build our character," he said.

"I was pleased to pull them back to 160ish because I thought we were looking at 180-190, but our bowlers did really well, and to close it out like that, Hersh was brilliant."

Pragyan Ojha was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed the scalps of Mahendra Singh Dhoni (22) and Matthew Hayden (49) in quick succession to put Deccan in control, claiming his two wickets for 11 runs off two overs.

"I probably made a mistake (not bringing him back on)," Gilchrist said. "He got two wickets for 11 and I didn't go back to him. I had a little theory in mind and probably got that one, but he's been brilliant for us."