Over the years, Mumbai Indians have played some thrilling final league games in the IPL history. Many would remember Corey Anderson’s effort in 2014 that took Mumbai Indians to Playoffs. And this year’s crushing win over Sunrisers Hyderabad was as memorable. But, on this very day, during the last league game of the 2012 season, there was an equally convincing and dominating win; a win that the hardcore Paltan members will never forget!

It was the last league game of the season, and the four Playoff teams were already known. Still, for Mumbai Indians the game in Jaipur was crucial, as a victory would have meant that they carried the winning momentum into the Playoffs. Hosts Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, had just the pride at stake. But even though Rahul Dravid’s men had failed to make it to the Playoffs, they were a very hard team to beat in Jaipur.

Mumbai Indians decided to rest Munaf Patel; their top performer of the season, for this game, and brought in Dhawal Kulkarni. The Mumbai lad delivered straightaway by removing Dravid in the second over. The right-arm pacer then delivered a key blow by removing Ranji teammate Ajinkya Rahane in his third over. Rahane was the backbone of the Royals batting line-up, and his wicket inside the first six overs gave plenty to cheer for the Paltan.

Kulkarni’s spell of 3-0-10-2 in the Power-play did the job for the visitors against a very talented batting unit. Stuart Binny and Shane Watson’s cameos resurrected the Royal’s innings but Kulkarni still had time to claim a third wicket of this game, as Royals ended up at 162 for 6.

Taking the conditions into account, it was a par score. But when the master blaster gets going, no total is enough to be defended; that is what Dravid and Co experienced on the day.

If Tendulkar was at his stylish best, Dwayne Smith, his opening partner, was at his destructive best. Smith blasted Chandila for a straight six in the very first over to make his intensions clear. Tendulkar immediately knew that he could take his time to get his eye in, hitting just two fours in the Power-play and instead letting Smith face most of the balls. The Caribbean justified it by racing to 27 by the end of the first six overs.

The duo then rotated the strike for the next four overs before Smith hammered off Ajit Chandila for back to back sixes in the 11th over. By now, both the openers had settled, and were literally scoring at will.

So brutal was the assault that the asking rate had come down below run a ball with six overs left in the game. The contest between the bat and the ball was over, even the Royals seemed to have accepted it. But the friendly contest between Tendulkar and Smith was in full flow. In a rare instance, Tendulkar was overshadowed by Smith’s onslaught.

Smith kept hitting boundaries at will to make sure the target was overhauled with two overs to spare. While his 58-ball 87 took the cake, the genuine fans understood the importance of Tendulkar’s 51-ball 58. The duo’s unbroken 163-run stand helped the IPL witnessing only its fifth 10-wicket victory.

The association of 163 runs was just four runs short of Mumbai Indian’s highest ever partnership of unbroken 167, registered by Herschelle Gibbs and Rohit Sharma in Kolkata just over a week earlier. It was also then the highest opening stand in the IPL. Though Chris Gayle and TM Dilshan bettered it by four runs the following season, Tendulkar and Smith’s partnership still remains the seventh highest stand for all wickets in the history of IPL.