The Indian Premier League phenomenon had already begun two nights earlier in Bangalore. But the day all of ‘aamchi’ Mumbai was waiting for,had finally arrived. The Wankhede Stadium was bleeding a different Blue as the Mumbai Indians prepared for making its competitive debut as a team.

Rahul Dravid had flown his Royal Challengers Bangalore down to face the mighty Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. But there was suspense over who will walk out for the toss with Dravid as the Mumbai Indians captain.

Sachin Tendulkar had already been unveiled the icon player and the leader of the team. But an injury ahead of the IPL meant Tendulkar was not going to miss the Mumbai Indians’ first few games. As a result, there was a lot of anxiety over who could be the MI captain till Tendulkar was raring to go. With three former international captains in their ranks, the Paltan expected either of Shaun Pollock, Sanath Jayasuriya or Ashwell Prince, to be appointed the captain.

However, all the international stars expressed the desire for an Indian to be the captain since he can have better rapport with the domestic report. As a result, with “Tashan mein” blurting out at the Wankhede Stadium, Harbhajan Singh walked out for the toss as the first Mumbai Indians captain. Incidentally, from the XI who featured for Mumbai Indians in their debut match, the Turbanator remains the only one donning the famous Blue colours.

The Mumbai Indians had a far from ideal start as Luke Ronchi perished early and Dominic Thornley’s IPL stint was over in five balls when he was hit by a Zaheer Khan bouncer on his face and had to be replaced for the rest of the tournament. Robin Uthappa then held the innings together with a 38-ball 48 and with useful contributions from lower order, especially Pollock’s 12-ball 28, Mumbai Indians managed a total of 165 for six.

With the IPL being in its nascent stages, nobody was sure whether it was a respectable total or not. Mumbai Indians kept on denting the Royal Challengers batting line-up at frequent intervals, thus leaving the visitors to score 30 runs off the last three overs.

Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher then took a calculated risk and went after Ashish Nehra. Two sixes and a boundary meant the over fetched 19 runs. Despite Harbhajan getting rid of Kallis in the next over, Dhawal Kulkarni, then a newbie, was left with too much to do as Royal Challengers needed three to win off the last over.

The Bangalore outfit scraped through with two balls to spare. Though it didn’t start off on an ideal note, Mumbai Indians had finally arrived. And they were ready to take the world by a storm!