Opening account

Bumrah bowled the next over. Sehwag lashed one over cover for four,took two off the next ball,and then cleared his front leg and launched one over long on. The replay screen flashed the words Are you watching Sir Viv? Sir Vivian Richards,of course,was at the Ferozeshah Kotla,in his new role as ambassador-cum-advisor to Delhi Daredevils. Last ball of Bumrahs over,Mahela Jayawardene punched straight back down the ground for four.

Munaf continued from the other end,and continued to angle it towards leg stump. Sehwag flicked the first ball past midwicket for four,and worked the next one past the short fine leg fielder for another boundary. Jayawardene came on strike; Munaf stuck to the same line; two more fours. Delhi were 51 for no loss after five overs. Two boundaries to Sehwag off the next over,bowled by Lasith Malinga,took them to 60 for no loss. Mumbai Indians,batting first,had only made 24 in their powerplay. The difference wasnt so much how Sehwag and Jayawardene had batted,as much as the combination of the line bowled by the Mumbai seamers and the fields they set. In six overs,they had conceded six fours in the arc between fine leg and deep midwicket.

All over the park

As Sehwag grew in confidence,more spokes began appearing on his wagon wheel,especially in his favourite area square on the off side. Even the good balls went for four,such as the yorker from Malinga that he squirted away fine on the off side to go from 84 to 88.

At this point,Delhi were 148 for no loss. They lost Jayawardene,who walked after being struck on his boot by another Malinga yorker it was that plumb; and Delhi were that close to victory but it was scant consolation for Mumbai.

In the end,Sehwag might have wished that Mumbai had set his side a slightly bigger target. His winning hit,swung away through the leg side off Bumrah,left him on 95. Jayawardene,meanwhile,had scored 59,and Sachin Tendulkar,for Mumbai,had made 54. Coming into the game,all three had been struggling for form. At the end of it,Mumbai skipper Ricky Ponting must have wondered why he demoted himself so far down the order that he didnt get a chance to bat.

Instead,it was the homegrown pair of Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma who dominated Mumbais total of 161 for four. Tendulkar provided the crowd a couple of blasts from the past,both of which came off another Mumbai boy,Ajit Agarkar.

Vintage Tendulkar

When Tendulkar was on 14,Agarkar bowled him a one that rose chest-high at a line slightly outside off stump; Tendulkar swivelled to dump it into the stands behind deep midwicket. Taken off after this over,Agarkar returned to bowl his second with Mumbai 107 for two in 15. Having taken two off his second ball,Tendulkar walked across his stumps and scooped the next one over deep backward square to move from 46 to 52.

Rohit,at the other end,had also moved past 50,at an even brisker rate. He had already cleared the ropes twice,having come down the track to launch Roelof van der Merwe over his head,and swatted an Andre Russel full toss contemptuously over deep square leg to land some 15 rows back. Now,after Tendulkar departed,he hit three more sixes to go to 73,the best of the lot a flick over midwicket off Umesh Yadav with back leg raised,a la Mohammad Azharuddin or Kevin Pietersen.