Duniya hila denge ham, ham duniya hila dein ham!
Duniya hila denge ham, ham duniya hila dein ham!
This theme song of Mumbai Indians resounded in the background a day before yesterday as Jayasurya and Uthappa headed back to their dugout after the win over Chennai Superkings. The crowd at Wankhede had witnessed a gem of an innings from Sanath Jayasurya that would have reminded many of his 151 against India a few years back on the same ground. Eleven sixes on a pitch that troubled the rest of the batsmen and where even the bowlers found it hard to control the swing, speaks volume of the Srilankan's calibre. And then everyone thought, where was he till now? This was the 8th game for the Mumbai team in the IPL and prior to this innings he hadn't looked even a shadow of what he did last night. So what did click? When Ian Bishop asked this very question to him in the presentation, his answer had me in awe.
"It`s the best day of my life to open with Sachin. The advantage he lends is that he lets me play my own game." These were the words from one of the most lethal opening batsmen in One day game. What great respect among these two cricketers of the gentlemen era! And that is when I thought that though Sachin had scored only 12 and that too less than run a ball in the last match, his presence had greater significance.
Even tonight against Kolkata Knight Riders, Sachin's captaincy was exemplary as Mumbai Indians went on to achieve their straight fifth victory. Bringing on Pollock to finish his spell in one go who then got his third wicket and keeping a slip through out the match where the Mumbai team had four catches taken showed that he had a plan in his mind. The three seniors, Sachin,Sanath and Shaun have clearly put their vast experience to use and discussed roles for the players. After defeats in its first four games, this display from the Mumbai team has been phenomenol and Sachin has surely been instrumental in it deriving the best even out of the veterans. If him being in the playing eleven can enthuse the others to such a level then yes, it has been a great comeback by him as well. He's a team man and what better result for him than a great run of victories for his team. Kudos to them and their captain!
Mumbai's victories have been emphatic and after a bad start they have grown from strength to strength. And now they surely look like to be one of the semi-finalists.Chennai SuperKings and Kolkata Knight Riders seem to be slipping down the table but, all it takes is one good innings, one good spell or may be one spectacular effort in the field to lift the spirit of the team. And that's what the point here is - don't ever write off the greats coz a comeback might just be around the corner!
