Tendulkar looked in total control over his team which had a settled look about it yesterday
Tendulkar looked in total control over his team which had a settled look about it yesterday
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WAH! Mumbai Indians' captain Sachin Tendulkar rushes to congratulate Lasith Malinga for having a hand in theu00a0 dismissal of Royal Challengers Bangalore's Rahul Dravid in Port Elizabeth. |
Ajinkya Rahane had batted too low in the limited opportunities he got. After all, he is a top order batsman, who has scored heavily for Mumbai in last season's Ranji Trophy.
To say that he played a mature innings would be an understatement. These type of innings are played regularly either by rookies or senior pros.
But not often do you see a young batsman prosper after being thrown a challenge to hang in there following the departure of icons like Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya. It can have a very demoralising effect on a young batter, but Rahane gave steely determination a good name in guiding the innings alongwith J P Duminy.
Super knock
Sure, Rahane's experience of playing for Mumbai must have helped but Twenty20 is a different kettle of fish.
He didn't panic and took calculated risks to remain unbeaten. He played one of the most crucial innings of his life and it will do his confidence a world of good.
It was good to see Duminy in the middle order instead of the opener's role, which he faltered in, in Mumbai's last game against Delhi. Sachin got it right again as was the case in getting Jayasuriya back in the side. I firmly believe that this is Mumbai's best combination and Sachin will do well to stick with it. It has got a very settled look about it.
The team must be over the moon by the win, but the dreaded question is, 'is it too late?' It's still a mammoth task to make the semi-finals because in this format, there's every chance of dropping a game if you have a bad day.
KKR puzzle
In the KKR vs Delhi game, Brendon McCullum failed yet again with the bat. To me, it looks all very ironical.
When Buchanan unleashed his multiple captains theory, he showed the world that his side was open to flexibility.
If that was so, why didn't KKR have a new captainu00a0Sourav Ganguly for my liking when McCullum kept failing?
Also, the New Zealander kept on giving the impression in his post match utterances that he was not enjoying leading the team.
Come to think of it, this is just one of those things you can't solve in the KKR puzzle.
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