After a valiant fight last night with Sunrisers Hyderabad, Mumbai Indians was eliminated from the ongoing edition of the tournament, thanks to a superior run-rate of Kolkata Knight Riders. However, despite Mumbai crashing out, cricket won last night due to various reasons.
I believe that this letter was long due for the reigning champions who were dismantled this time, but it is just a part and parcel of the game. It needs a lot of courage and love for the game to play one’s heart out exactly as Mumbai did.
Dear Mumbai,
They call your city in a very intimate way that denotes the heart that your people have. Similarly, you came to yesterday’s fixture with almost the exit dangling upon your head like the sword of Damocles.
It was almost an impossible ask with the equation quoting that you had to win the game by 170 runs and if you bowled first, the game was over even before it started.
Rohit won the toss and opted to bat first. On a track where even 150 seemed to be a monumental score, you, Mumbai, you went for the kill right from the word go.
You flipped all the calculations and in a startling move, you had Ishan opening the innings. It needs a lot of courage to bring that batsman of yours out to the open when he hasn’t been even close to what he was in the preceding edition. Who would have known that this would have turned out into an absolute masterstroke?
The way Kishan batted, from the start, was a treat for the eyes. He didn’t care for caution, he didn’t care for pace. All he cared for was the brutal bashing of whoever he was up against. The next man to underpin the destructive intent of the Mumbai Indians was Suryakumar Yadav.
Just when the world believed that India probably have taken a wrong decision by roping in Yadav, he responded strongly with a counterblast of a 40-ball-82. You fought with everything you could and managed to bash 235 runs on a pitch where 150 seemed like 10 runs per over.
Despite such a monumental effort where everyone said that you will be eliminated in no time, you still managed to create a window where hope seemed plausible. However, things fizzled out way too early for you as Jason Roy embarked upon a mighty destructive spell alongside the young Abhishek Sharma and the flames were there to engulf you.
Sadly, we won’t be seeing you in the playoffs and that breaks our heart. However, in the face of a herculean task, when everyone writes you off, giving yourself a glimmer of hope through your own hard work is a virtue that the world craves.
A victory isn’t always about the laurels and medals, but at times it is about hope in the darkest of days.
Yours sincerely,
A crazy cricket fan
