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Only twenty days to go, and IPL cricket returns to our heavenly abode, our fortress, our home - the Wankhede Stadium on April 1, 2024. Our opponents? Rajasthan Royals. But wait? Something seems familiar, doesn’t it?

2010 - MI vs RR, our first home game of the IPL campaign

2024 - MI vs RR, our first home game of the IPL campaign

It’s been 14 years, but what other coincidence should we know? It’s a full circle for Lasith Malinga, who made his home IPL debut against Rajasthan as a player. The Slingaa will now make his home debut as MI’s new Bowling Coach against the same outfit.

Over the years, the Paltan has seen many entertaining matchups between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals — remember that Aditya Tare *six* in 2014? Well, we have another memorable match for you to savour your memories.

We turn the clock back to 2010, the night when MI overcame a Yusuf Pathan blitzkrieg to pull off a spectacular 4-run triumph.

Launch of the Rayudu-Tiwary partnership

Early wickets? Pressure? No problem. Confident innings? No problem. Ambati Rayudu (55) on debut and Saurabh Tiwary (53), exemplified the ‘MI mentality’ with their crucial half-centuries to pivot Mumbai on course to 212/6.

MI apply the breaks to RR’s chase

In true ‘starting with a bang’ style, the Mumbai Indians bowling attack grabbed three wickets inside 6.3 overs of the second innings and reduced the visitors to 40/3. Rajagopal Sathish and Ali Murtaza were at the forefront of this attack.

Rampant Yusuf and a game-changing run-out

Stepping out to bat at number five, Yusuf Pathan went on a riot against the MI bowlers. He took 21 balls to reach his fifty and another 16 to rise to triple figures. It was the second-fastest T20 ton by any cricketer at that time, and it really looked like it was his evening. The match was slipping away! 

But R Satish, who already was in the spotlight for his direct-hit run-out of RR opener Swapnil Asnodkar (0) and a terrific caught-and-bowled dismissal of Graeme Smith (26), scripted THE turning point of the game.

he  bowled to Paras Dogra, but Yusuf charged to take a run, not knowing that the MI bowler fielded the ball, and reverse-flicked it back onto the stumps. It needed a special effort to get Yusuf out, and THIS WAS IT! 

Malinga wraps up an MI victory

Having claimed a wicket earlier in the game, Lasith Malinga was responsible for putting the final nail in the coffin of Rajasthan Royals’ chase. Bowling the final over, the Sri Lankan legend got Dogra (41) run out and then clattered the stumps of Amit Uniyal (0) with his trademark yorker.

Mumbai Indians had won from the brink. The 2010 campaign was off to a superb start. Paltan, what are your memories from that game? Go on, tell us..