Mumbai Indians may not have got their 2015 Indian Premier League campaign off to an ideal start, as they succumbed to a defeat against defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Wednesday. Still, there were plenty of positives for Mumbai Indians to take from their opening encounter of the season.

Most of the positives were from the batting department, which holds more significance than bowling, when it comes to Twenty20 cricket. One of the major problems that had plagued Mumbai Indian’s 2014 campaign was the lack of big runs from the top-order batsmen.

To address the issue, Mumbai Indians decided to open the innings with Aaron Finch, the World Cup-winner, and Rohit Sharma. While the Australian was dismissed early on in his Mumbai Indians debut; Rohit proved that his opening the batting, paid rich dividends.

Throughout IPL 2014, Rohit appeared to be hesitant to open the batting but in 2015, with him being at the peak of his form, he displayed that he could anchor the innings as well as play the marauder to perfection.

With Mumbai Indians having been reduced to 37 for three in the sixth over, Rohit had to take it easy in the middle overs. Once he did that, he had set himself up for a late burst. And he did that to perfection. At the end of the 14th over, Rohit was batting on 46 off 45 balls. But once he hit Umesh Yadav through wide long-on for a boundary in the next over to raise his fifty, he cut loose. He scored 52 balls in the last 20 balls he faced, clobbering seven fours and three sixes in the last six overs.

He missed his second hundred in MI colours by just two runs. But he didn’t have any qualms. After all, he had helped MI post a respectable total on the board. His last boundary of the innings helped him become only the second batsman in the IPL history to cross the 3,000-run mark. If he continues to be in the same scintillating form, he might get closer to Chennai Super King’s Suresh Raina by the end of the season. Raina, the leader of IPL’s run-scoring charts, leads Rohit by 300-plus runs.

A top-notch batsman like Rohit needs solid support from the other end to go berserk. And Corey Anderson provided the perfect foil at the Eden Gardens. Just like Rohit, Anderson, one of the stars of New Zealand’s World Cup campaign, also first avoided a batting collapse and then joined his skipper in tormenting the KKR bowlers in the death overs.

As a result, Rohit and Anderson put up the fourth highest partnership for Mumbai Indians in the IPL. With two of the top five who could get a hit in the opener, proven that they are at the peak of their form; Mumbai Indians will return to the Wankhede Stadium where they will face Kings XI Punjab on Sunday.