Peterson's audacity

Foreign players of varying degrees of experience and stardom in the IPL know that a place in the final XI is never guaranteed, with the cap fixed at four. Warming the bench is a part and parcel of the IPL experience, as the likes of Paul Collingwood and Glenn McGrath found out in earlier seasons. This season, even an in-form player like Muttiah Muralitharan can't be squeezed in.

South Africa allrounder Robin Peterson was bought by Mumbai Indians for $100,000 before this season. He sat out six games before finally getting an opportunity against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, replacing Pragyan Ojha. He was mysteriously given just one over by his captain Harbhajan Singh, despite conceding just three. And despite his reputation as a hitter, he was shunted down to No. 8, one step below Harbhajan, who made a duck.

With Lasith Malinga set to return to the side shortly, this could well have been Peterson's only IPL audition before being relegated to the bench again. If he felt that pressure, he certainly didn't show it in during an audacious debut performance.

With Mumbai needing a daunting 32 off the last two overs, Peterson batted with a nothing-to-lose approach, reverse-sweeping his first ball for four. The unfortunate bowler was Piyush Chawla, who leaked an inexcusable 27 off the penultimate over. Peterson seemed to emulate his namesake Kevin Pietersen with a shot resembling the switch hit. Two unconventional fours were followed by a slog over deep midwicket for six. He siphoned off 15 of the required runs in just four balls, and two big hits by his partner suddenly put Mumbai in pole position. In the end, Peterson turned out to be the game changer, and made himself hard to drop.