Nerves. Aditya Tare takes his guard. Looks around. James Faulkner is at the top of his run-up. Faulkner comes steaming in and bowls a low full-toss on Tare’s pads. Tare connects and how. He deposits it over the deep-square leg fence. This six ensures a playoffs berth for MI.

IPL 2014. Four back-to-back losses right at the start of the tournament meant that Mumbai Indians had a herculean task at hand with having to beat Rajasthan Royals by a massive margin to jump ahead on net run-rate. Eventually, MI had to put up 190 in 14.3 overs against RR in order to make it to the play-offs of IPL 2014.

While Corey Anderson’s 95* (44) immediately put the men in Blue and Gold on the right track for the chase, it would have never happened without that last ball six from Aditya Tare. The latter recalled this fairy-tale finish moment in an exclusive conversation with mumbaiindians.com.

The nerves

The dressing room was filled with ‘what if’ conversations to discuss possibilities of making it into the play-offs for Mumbai Indians. “What if it’s a tie or what if we just get two runs, what’s going to happen? We as a team had a general idea that even if Rayudu got two runs on that ball, it’s a tie at 14.3 overs, we still could hit a boundary on the next ball and you know, we could get our run rate above RR,” Tare says.

When Ambati Rayudu, who was on strike, got run out while failing to make it to the crease before the second run, the atmosphere just got tenser. Having tied the score, Rayudu made way for Tare to face the ball that was their only ticket to the final four.

Tare's thoughts before facing the last ball

Rayudu was just run-out after a 10-ball 30. Anderson was batting on 95* off 44. Tare walked in with the sole intention to get a boundary.. “I had to calculate first which is the shortest side and I thought I could get the ball over the boundary line and on that particular day, at the Wankhede, the pitch was placed on the on-side. The leg side was the shortest side,” he said.

Was Tare anticipating a bouncer? “They basically set up a field for a bouncer. But I thought it was going to be a big gamble because the leg side was the shortest side of the ground. So I thought bowling a bouncer would be a gamble and Faulkner is going to bluff and bowl a yorker, mostly a wide yorker.”

The moment of glory

James Faulkner faltered under pressure and missed his line. And of course, Tare made full use of it! “He just landed near my leg on a good height and I absolutely creamed that ball,” he recalled.”

Reliving that moment, Tare added, “I hit it from the middle of the bat and it just went into the stands. So, it was one of the best shots that I’ve played, you know, first ball shots that I’ve played in my career.” And why not? It was the turning point for the men in Blue and Gold after all!

Iconic celebration

What remains fresh even after all these years is Tare’s celebration. “Oh yes, the celebration was extremely emotional in that particular game. We had to hit a six to make it to the playoffs,” he beamed.

“So when it came off I was extremely ecstatic and the little footballer in me just came out in that moment and I started running towards the dugout and then later I changed directions and I ran towards the North Stand,” he said, emphasizing how much the Paltan’s support meant to him and the team.

“I just wanted to celebrate it with the fans who were really with us, supported us and I thought they deserved to be a part of it, so I decided to run towards them,” he says. What can we say? That’s one match, one ball, one celebration we will forever cherish.