Charles made a 21-ball 40 opening the batting including four fours and two sixes while skipper Powell, batting at five, hit 35 off just 15 balls including one four and four sixes to help the Bulls post an intimidating 126-6 off their 10 overs after being put in to bat.
Englishman James Vince also showed good form with 37 off 14 balls. Obed McCoy and Junaid Siddique had identical figures of 2-18 from two overs.
Chennai’s chase then came up significantly short, being bowled out for just 61 in 8.5 overs.
Only Mohammad Nabi was able to crack double figures with 25 as Fazalhaq Farooqi (2-8 from two overs), Muhammad Rohid (2-14 from two overs), Naveen-ul-Haq (2-22 from two overs) and Ravi Bopara (2-4 from five balls) combined to produce an excellent display of bowling.
The former West Indies T20 captain took 1-25 from his two overs with the ball to help restrict the Gladiators to 108-3 from their 10 overs after the Braves won the toss and bowled first. Englishmen Jason Roy (57) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (40) top-scored for the Gladiators.
With the bat, Brathwaite hammered 27 from just seven balls, including four sixes from an Andre Russell over, to help propel the Braves to 109-4 from 9.3 overs.
Dan Lawrence (40) top-scored as the Braves got their second win of the season.
With his team needing 108 for victory, Gayle hit two fours and two sixes to take his side to 111-3 after Phil Salt put them well on their way with a blistering knock of 63 from just 20 balls. Salt hit four fours and seven sixes before he was out with just six runs needed.
Salt and Gayle, who was unbeaten for the second match running, put on 70 in just four overs as Team Abu Dhabi raced to their sixth win of the season.
Mark Deyal was the best of the Braves’ bowlers with 2-16.
Earlier, Chennai Braves were asked to bat and only managed 107-6. Only Mohammad Shahzad with 53 from 30 balls. Shahzad hit four fours and four sixes that took Braves to 75-3 inside in the eighth over.
Despite the win that put them on 12 points, Team Abu Dhabi slipped to second place on net run-rate behind Deccan Gladiators.
Gayle hit three fours and five sixes in a desperate chase but other than Liam Livingston, who scored 20 from six balls and Phil Salt’s 17 from seven, the Universe Boss got little support from his fellow batsmen as Team Abu Dhabi fell to only its first defeat this season.
James Faulkner 2-23 and Benny Howell 2-13 swung the match in favour of the winners.
Bangla Tigers took first strike and owed their score of 130-5 to Hazratullah Zazai, who plundered 41 runs, hitting three fours and three sixes from the 20 balls he faced. Willy Jacks was even more brutal scoring 43 from just 17 balls from which he hit five fours and three sixes.
Some late-order hitting from Faf du Plessis, who raced to 22 from just eight balls, spurred Tigers to their winning total.
In the other match on Friday, Andre Russell took 2-10 and was unbeaten on three as the Deccan Gladiators defeated the Chennai Braves by five wickets.
The Braves were bowled out for 57 in their 10 overs with Bhanuka Rajapaksa being the only batter in double figures as, along with Russell’s two wickets, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva took 3-9 and Rumman Raees 2-20.
In reply, the Gladiators achieved the winning target in just six overs with David Wiese top-scoring with 20. Tom Banton made 19.
Propelled by some lusty hitting by Nicholas Pooran and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who shared in an unbroken opening partnership of 85 in just 6.1 overs that took Deccan Gladiators past the 83-8 posted by the Chennai Braves.
Pooran began slowly but eventually got going smashing three sixes and three fours in his unbeaten knock of 35 off 19 balls. Kohler-Cadmore was even more ruthless clubbing five fours and three sixes in his score of 44 also from 19 balls to propel the Deccan Gladiators to their third win in five games and first after back-to-back losses.
Despite the powerful hitting from their batters, it was the bowling of Andre Russell, that earned him the Player of the Match award. Russell took 2-12 from his two overs dismissing openers Jason Roy for 15 and Kobe Herft for four.
Both batters were caught by Nuwan Thusara, who was also among the wickets with 2-26.
Stephen Eskinazi, who was the best of the was run out by Andre Fletcher for with 25 from 14 balls with three fours.
