Page 199 - IPL1

that is nothing less than a captain’s dream. The trouble was,
for part of the competition, Pollock was himself that captain.
The injury to Tendulkar, followed by the ban for Harbhajan, left
the former South African skipper as the natural choice to lead
the Mumbai team. He did so with typical diligence, and when
Tendulkar finally returned for the home game against Chennai
Super Kings on May 14, Pollock just got better. He followed an
analysis that night of one for nine with figures of three for 12
two days later against Kolkata. To describe him as metronomic
barely did him justice.

Try as everyone might, however, it was the shadow of Sachin
that loomed largest over Mumbai’s progress – or, in the early
stages, the lack of it. Hardly a day went by without the papers
speculating over the date of his return to a side that threatened
to fall apart after Harbhajan’s ban, and there was an inevitable
sense of disappointment when his return to the side produced
innings of 12 against Chennai and a duck against Kolkata.
Tendulkar followed that with scores of 23, 65, 18, 30 and 40 not
out, but not even his inspirational presence was enough to turn
Mumbai around after their faltering start. Needless to say, he
remains a demi-god in his native city.

India’s left-arm seamer Ashish Nehra sparkled from time to time
with the new ball, but took six of his 12 wickets in two matches
and may have been disappointed not to have struck more
regularly with the new ball. The tall Sri Lankan Dilhara Fernando
and Dhawal Kulkarni both chipped in with wickets, but Mumbai
desperately missed the cutting-edge and competitive zest that
would have come from Harbhajan Singh. Figures of three for 32
in the defeat to Mohali showed what he was capable of, but it
was to prove his last contribution to the tournament after his
run-in with Sreesanth. It was to the tournament’s credit that the
incident was dealt with so swiftly, but Mumbai must have been
left wondering what might have been. To miss a semi-final spot
by a single point was equally hard to bear, but you can be sure
this proud city will be doubly desperate to make amends in next
year’s Indian Premier League.

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