It was turning out to be a brilliant week, a home stretch that Mumbai Indians were really enjoying. They had beaten KKR at the CCI just a couple of days back, and Rajasthan Royals at the same venue about a week ago. With this winning spree; Sachin Tendulkar’s boys went into their third home game in six days, this time against the mighty Chennai Super Kings, feeling reasonably confident.

Things weren’t quite the same for their opposition though, as MS Dhoni’s team came to Mumbai on the back of defeats against Kings XI Punjab and Royal Challengers’ Bangalore.

All those stats though seemed to count for nothing when Matthew Hayden struck Zaheer Khan for four boundaries in the second over of the game. Harbhajan Singh, the ‘go-to-man’ in crisis, got rid of a very dangerous looking Hayden very soon. But Hayden’s exit meant the entry of another dynamic left-hander—Suresh Raina.

And it was a typical Suresh Raina show right till the innings break. Raina played one of his typical knocks, hitting through and over covers and mid-wicket effortlessly. From Dwayne Bravo to Zaheer Khan to Lasith Malinga, nobody was spared; each one of them going for over 40 runs in four-over spell. Ryan McLaren (4-0-23-1) and Harbhajan (4-0-25-1) ensured that the CSK boys didn’t get to 200.

A target of 181 was not impossible, certainly not for one of the best batting line-ups in the tournament. But it was a stiff one, and needed a solid start. Shikhar Dhawan and skipper Tendulkar gave the Paltan more than just a solid start. The duo made full use of a wayward Balaji over, before Dhawan really launched into Joginder Sharma, hitting him for three consecutive fours. Couple of back to back sixes from Dhawan off Balaji meant Mumbai Indians had raced to 63 for none at the end of Power-play overs. By the time Jakati dismissed Dhawan for 56 (34 balls, five fours, three sixes), Mumbai Indians were more than halfway through; with a little over 11 overs still to play.

All that was required was to maintain the tempo, and no one did it better than the Master Blaster right throughout his career. He kept the scoreboard moving, even though he lost a couple more partners at the other end. And although the runs came mostly in ones and twos for a spell of about five overs, Tendulkar very well knew that it was just the matter of one big over. And he chose Thisara Perera for that, hammering him for four overs in the 16th over. The required run rate suddenly came down below eight, and despite the Master Blaster being dismissed in the penultimate over, the hosts crossed the finish line with one full over to spare.

A 52-ball 72-run knock, with the help of eight fours and a six, was clearly worth the MOM award, a knock that was described by Dhoni as “amazing to learn for all the youngsters.”