More than Mumbai Indians’ apparent struggle to stop the oppositions’ last over carnage, the biggest talking point for the team so far was the failure of Rohit Sharma – a vital member of India’s new famous triumvirate. And although he brushed aside the poor form against Royal Challengers Bangalore with a sublime 94. But, it was not the classic Rohit Sharma innings that we have fallen in love with – there was apparent scratchiness throughout. Unlike a normal Rohit inning, which feels like a heavy-metal song, this one had more disarming tone. It was one of his unpleasant innings which had the same effect of leaving the opposition outmaneuvered and eventually, Virat Kohli-led RCB learned Rohit’s fragile genius in a hard way.

In the first three matches, the Mumbai Indians’ skipper’s weight transfer got him into trouble leading him to play shots off the front foot. His head was always somewhere in the middle of the body, and that's why he was beaten time and again. But today, after the team lost two wickets in the first two balls, he played on the front foot mostly that ensured the body weight was going forward. Due to the low bouncy nature of Wankhede, he got into the position of the ball easily and apart from the first few balls, he didn’t throw his bat around on every outside off-stump delivery.

During the mid-game interval, the official broadcasters Star Sports, had decided to air a footage of all AB de Villiers’ dismissal inflicted by the elder of the Pandya brothers. The four dismissals over the last two years showed how Krunal was successful in taming the South African talisman with his sheer power of flight. Given the fragile way the wicket behaved today, it was always going to be difficult for RCB batsmen to pick the slow left-arm orthodox spinner, but no one expected the star-studded team to collapse under pressure like that.

Ahead of this year’s Indian Premier League curtain-raiser, Virat Kohli wasted no chance to flaunt his new bowling unit, which he believed none was better than all the others in the past and had strong faith that his bowlers will win them games more than the batsmen. Looking at the team sheet, there was no doubt to what Kohli was saying and it was expected to be their year eventually.