Matthew Hayden swatted 81 off 46 balls as his highly-anticipated showdown with Harbhajan Singh came to little in the Indian Premier League.

The potent left-hander combined his trademark power game with some deft touches as he struck 12 fours and a pair of sixes in Chennai’s six-run home win over Mumbai in sapping, humid conditions.

There had been considerable expectation surrounding Hayden’s clash with Harbhajan following the bad blood between the pair during the last Australian summer.

However the Mumbai captain opted to only bowl two overs with the slippery ball at Chennai’s MA Chidambaram Stadium as Hayden and Suresh Raina (53 off 37 balls) steered their side to 5-208 from 20 overs.

And there was plenty of evidence the cosmopolitan make-up of IPL teams has taken much of the sting out of the heated rivalry between the Australians and Harbhajan.

The encouragement and chant of “well bowled Bhajji” in wicketkeeper Luke Ronchi’s thick Australian accent during Harbhajan’s short bowling stint showed how much the battle lines have changed in the last few months.

Harbhajan still managed to enjoy a little success against Hayden as he threw down the stumps to run out the Queenslander late in the Super Kings’ innings.

But the theatrical spinner barely celebrated, just producing a little smile as Chennai had already reached 194 with an over to go in the innings.

Hayden was named man of the match, the fourth time for an Australian in eight IPL matches.

Mumbai’s chances of reaching the victory target of 209 looked improbable before some late hitting from Abhishek Nayar (45no from 20 balls) and Harbhajan (28 off 14 balls) almost stole the show.

The Chennai Super Kings have won their first two matches while the Mumbai Indians have lost their opening two clashes.

© AAP 2012

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