The match marked the debut of IPL at the Brabourne Stadium and it would have made former CCI president Raj Singh Dungarpur turn in his grave and smiling. He wanted big cricket to come back where it belongs. Such was the fare displayed.
Imagine the famous stadium being the ground for the fastest hundred of the T20 game -- Yusuf Pathan's 37-ball 100 with nine fours and 8 sixes. Imagine Nita Ambani hugging the players after a grand win. Imagine Sachin Tendulkar's team making light of the absence of Harbhajan Singh who couldn't bowl because of a hit on the knee while batting.
MI were lucky they had the best two bowlers in the world at the death to bowl the last two overs when 18 were needed. Zaheer gave just five in his last and Malinga had two wickets and gave just seven. That counted in the end.
There were five debutants for MI in their revamped team, three of them from the ICL. Of the lot one liked the approach of South African Ryan MacLaren, who didn't get a game last year. His batting was purposeful and running between wickets the fastest. His four overs went for 43 but then every bowler except Malinga went for that many.
One also liked new keeper Aditya Tare who took over from Yogesh Takawale and Pinal Shah. He was great at the death effecting a runout taking the express ones with ease and moving well and no byes in the pressure situation plus scoring 23 off 13 balls at No 3.
There was ICL lad R Satish from Chennai who scored 6 but took a diving catch of Graeme Smith and affected the runout of Yusuf Pathan who was backing up when Satish caught the drive by Dogra and flicked to the stumps. That turned the match, for no bowler in the world could have stopped Yusuf this day.
There was another newcomer in another ICL player from UP, Ali Murtuza whose left-armers, added to those of Jayasuriya came useful.
And finally, the best addition Ambati Rayudu, also an ex-ICL. The U-19 star had gone into decline and wilderness in Hyderabad for whom his Ranji performances fell away. He then went to Andhra after some argument. Then the ICL revived his fortunes. MI coach Robin Singh, who was his U-19 coach when they won the Junior World Cup, saw some spark there and that judgment was vindicated.
Rayudu's 55 off 33 with six fours and two sixes and his 110-run fourth wicket stand with Saurabh Tiwary (53, 33 balls, four fours, two sixes) gave MI their best score in the IPL.
It was a fine comeback for Tiwary who is called the left-handed Dhoni because he hails from Jharkhand. He had not done justice to his talent in the first edition. But this knock will settle the doubts his class. MI have found their man. You can say they found five new jewels this day.
As for the Royals, Shane Warne's side was also a new-look one. There was left-arm mediumpacer Amit Uniyal from Punjab. His slower ball got rid of Rayudu. There was Abhishek Jhunjhunwala from Bengal and ICL. He didn't do much. There was Paras Dogra from Himachal who brought the match near with 20 plus off Satish in the 18th with 44 off 29 with 2 fours and 2 sixes.
If there was one player they missed it was Ravindra Jadeja, who faces a ban. Well it was a match going miles to watch. It has given IPL a dramatic kickoff. Those watching in theatres thanks to UFO Moviez's initiative must have felt as happy as they would after watching a James Bond thriller.
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