Mumbai's rookies gun down Rajasthan

A Mumbai victory over Rajasthan wouldn't even merit two columns of newspaper space if you were talking about a Ranji Trophy game. The IPL playing field is very different though, and given what has happened over the past fortnight, this certainly qualified as an upset. Rajasthan's hot streak, which encompassed five matches, had to end sometime, and Mumbai will take tremendous encouragement from the fact that they're now on a nice little spree themselves.

Rajasthan were cruising until Dwayne Bravo cleverly decided to go round the wicket to Shane Watson, and the subsequent loss of 8 for 29 spoke more of poor batsmanship than a pitch that was no more than slightly two-paced. By going for glory and a total in excess of 160, the Royals denied themselves the chance to post the 130 or so that might have given Shane Warne's shrewd brain the opportunity to manufacture another famous victory.

Credit where it's due though. Mumbai's pace bowlers were superb, with the Indian contingent especially impressive. In different circumstances, Ashish Nehra might have been one of the poster boys for the Delhi Daredevils. Mumbai have given him a chance to resuscitate a career that has always been more stop than start.

On his day, and Wednesday night was an example, Nehra is as good as any pace bowler in the land. When he arced one past Yusuf Pathan's heave to ruin Rajasthan's ideas of a rousing start, the no-frills celebration was a reminder to many that he's done this before and at a higher level. He had far too much nous for the tail, with both Sohail Tanvir and Mukesh Rawat having little idea about the deliveries that sent them on their way.

Nehra, with a six-wicket haul in India's best World Cup campaign since 1983, could hardly be termed a surprise performer though. That tag was shared by two young men born in and around Mumbai. Rohan Raje, the 21-year-old who hasn't even played a Ranji Trophy game, bowled with impressive composure and control, and the wicket of Swanpil Asnodkar, deceived by a splendid slower ball, effectively ended Rajasthan's hopes of a half-decent total.

Dhawal Kulkarni deserves even more praise. Two years Raje's junior, he went for 17 in his opening over. He rebounded as quickly as an elastic band, using a spring-loaded bouncer to devastating effect. Ravindra Jadeja was nowhere near ready for the pull, while Warne's hoick at a short one outside off stump was in no danger of clearing the rope. Both he and Raje kept things simple, but also varied pace and length enough so as not to become predictable.

The Shaun Pollock influence was certainly at work, and Mumbai's stand-in captain admitted as much after the game. "They've certainly learnt a lot in the past few weeks," he said. "But you have to give credit to them. They're the ones who have to step up to the plate and do it. We can stand at mid-off and give them some options on what to bowl, that's all."

Pollock had done his bit early on, flummoxing Graeme Smith, his successor as South African captain. Smith had been striding down the pitch from the first over in an effort to negate the swing, but against Pollock he just kept on walking after one was speared down the leg side and out of his reach.

Rajasthan managed to get over that setback, with the pint-sized Asnodkar and the He-Man-like Watson playing punishing strokes. But the bowling options at Pollock's disposal turned the tide, with Bravo managing the breakthrough.

When the schedule was drawn up, the sentimentalists among us circled this date and dreamt of the reunion of two legends, Warne and Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar's groin injury meant that the trip down memory lane will have to wait another 19 days, and visions of the past were quickly replaced by glimpses into the future. For Raje, Kulkarni and the other Indians, that could yet be a golden one after the darkest of beginnings.