Mumbai Indians thrash Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets (Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals, IPL Match 27)

This was a match which promised high-pitched drama even if the romance of a Tendulkar v Warne battle was not destined to be, but the contest fizzled out so soon after play began that the packed stadium could only have been left ruing at what might have been.

With his groin problem still persisting, Tendulkar skipped this match too, which meant that Mumbai Indians were under even greater pressure playing a side that had won five matches on the trot. But Rajasthan Royals, riding high after a string of impressive victories, were made to look like mendicants by some superb bowling and fielding by the home team.

Victory for Mumbai came in a cakewalk by an emphatic seven-wicket margin, with Robin Uthappa in the vanguard with some dashing strokes and a few interesting eyeball-to-eyeball confrontations with Shane Watson.

A paltry target of 104 was never likely to seriously test the Mumbai batting, and after a couple of tight opening overs, the runs came at a fairly rapid clip to finish this much-touted contest prematurely. Watson bowled aggressively to pick up two wickets, and Warne created a brief flutter by taking a wicket with his first delivery, but ultimately the Rajasthan team just did not have enough runs in the kitty to defend.

Shaun Pollock, the genial South African who got the captaincy deservedly if belatedly in Tendulkar’s absence, won an important toss, made the right decision to field first, and then perhaps did the biggest favour for his side by getting rid of Graeme Smith who had been the bulwark of the Royals in previous games.