Conventional cricketing wisdom whole-heartedly backs the gameplan of opting for two off-spinners against a batting line-up that has five left-handers in the side. It’s an old school of thought advocated by modest school coaches to the game’s all-time greats. The Mumbai Indians’ think-tank that consists of Sachin Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock and Sanath Jayasuriya — cricketers not quite used to the shortest version of the game — tried, but failed to fit this old idea into the new bottle. The formula of playing two untested offies — Vikrant Yeligati and Siddharth Chitnis — in the Mumbai Indians’ bowling attack to counter the southpaw batsmen in Kings XI’s line-up — Shaun Marsh, Luke Pomerbasch, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan and Tanmay Srivastava — didn’t quite have the desired effect as the Mohali side set a target of 190. And later, when Tendulkar came to bat, he realised that some things remain constant, regardless of the format. Comfortable situations can go horribly wrong but still they don’t seem hopelessly impossible. And as one sees ray of hope, clouds of gloom once again appear.With Tendulkar and Uthappa at the crease, Mumbai needed 30 in three overs — par for the course run rate under the circumstances. But Tendulkar’s run out triggered a mad scramble of run outs and, since this was accompanied by some needless mishits from the Mumbai batsmen landing in the hands of fielders, it all boiled down to the most thrilling climax of the tournament.At the end, Mumbai needed two runs for a win off the last ball of a bizarre over that saw three run-outs. It ended with Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh doing a Jonty Rhodes kind of dive and shattering the stumps. It was a surreal end to the game with Kings XI team celebrating but the giant screen at the stadium still showing the words ‘decision pending’. Eventually, as OUT was displayed, it was official that the Mumbai Indians’ winning streak was over and Kings XI had become the second team after Rajasthan Royals to enter the semi-finals.Well begun, half doneThe end had its share of spills and thrills, but the start wasn’t too bad either after Mumbai Indians had juggled their line-up. Despite the usual disciplined start by the Shaun Pollock — his figures of 3-0-14-1 could have been better had Robin Uthappa caught top scorer Marsh in his second over — they couldn’t quite maintain the high bowling standards they have set for themselves in the tournament.A minor shuffle to the winning combination was needed after all-rounder Dwayne Bravo returned for national duty and Pollock was declared fit, but Mumbai went in for large-scale changes. They were spoilt for choice as they had the newly-acquired pace ammunition of Andre Nel and all-rounder Dwayne Smith. The West Indian did make it to the XI but so did the two offies with non-existent first-class experience — Yelgati and Chitnis — who went for 83 runs from their eight overs.Maybe, it was the success of pacers like Rohan Raje and Dhaval Kulkarni early on that gave them the courage to blood the youngsters. But chances are the Mumbai Indians will need a major shuffle in their line-up before their next encounter.
