Partly deserving and partly not

Well no one would have thought the Mumbai Indians to lose the plot on yesterday's finals of the Indian Premier League after they had a successful run in the league stages of the same when it won 10 out of the 14 games played. It was really sad that Sachin Tendulkar had to face the same team against which he had lost earlier in the league stage. However, Sachin has to consider himself lucky for atleast coming till the finals and not losing the plot in the semis itself like it happened to the Delhi Daredevils in the earlier edition in South Africa.

The Delhi Daredevils were the top rated team last year and were likely to win the tournament which was more so when they had their finals scheduled against Deccan Chargers against whom the Delhi team had won on their previous two occasions. But, semis was a totally different game for them. However, if one side on the Mumbai Indians is considered, they were no extraordinary team to win the trophy though all odds were favoring them in this edition. For the first time in three years, the trophy is not won by a team wearing blue. On its two earlier occasion, it was the Rajasthan and Hyderabad team, both of whom had chosen blue as their color.

With all odds pointing towards Mumbai Indians this time, there was a third blue team set to win the trophy unfortunately which didn't happen. Hard work is evident from the Chennai Superkings who eventually won the trophy despite at one stage set to be the first team to get knocked out of the tournament after most of its key players were forced to surrender to injuries. The list included the famous all rounder Andrew Flintoff, hard hitting Jacob Oram and Mike Hussey. On the other hand there was Mathew Hayden who was out of form with his mongoose bat proving unlucky for him.

The case was no different with the Mumbai Indians with Sachin Tendulkar being the one international batsman in the side after sacking Sanath Jayasuriya from the playing eleven. The batting had be shared by someone like Harbhajan Singh and Duminy who are more accurate with the ball than with the bat. Sacking Jayasuriya proved costly exactly at a time when it mattered the most for Mumbai Indians. However, Sachin Tendulkar had individual reasons to smile when he was the highest run getter in the tournament and also the man of the series. If Sachin Tendulkar makes up his mind to play in the next edition (with every chance of franchises picking him next time), may be the dues can be settled.