A photo like that brings the past back like a chugging train; just the day before we had our hopes high, considering Harbhajan Singh’s performance in the T20 World Cup.

The Mumbai Indians; captained by Harbhajan with his experienced squad of players like Malinga, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard, Johnson and Tendulkar; were not able to escape assault. The Highveld Lions gave the Mumbai Indians a tough time, especially when Neil McKenzie and Quinton de Kock partnered at the crease with tenacious spirit. The young Kock made his half century out of 33 balls and McKenzie was not out at 68; the target of 158 was reached with eight wickets and seven balls to spare.

Lasith Malinga in an interview clearly summarizes what went wrong: “I think we got to bowl on a good wicket. The new ball swung around a bit but after that it didn’t do much. They were batting well but sometimes we didn’t bowl that well. I think that is the reason we couldn’t win.” 

Unfortunately, Bhajji could not inspire his bowlers to do much; Dhawal Kulkarni was given three overs in which he allowed the Lions to make 37 runs; the captain himself, in his four over tenure added to the disaster by conceding 36 runs. As for the batsmen, it would be apt to say that each one of them was given a chance, and with much distress they kept adding meagerly. Dwayne, started off well but departed with 26 runs; Tendulkar, was dismissed even before touching 20; Rohit Sharma, at 27; only Johnson made it to 30.

It was a rather dismal performance to witness on a spirited Sunday evening, now we can only hope the rest of our IPL clubs bring their performances up to speed.