Triple treat for Mumbai Indians

At last, the Mumbai Indians became the first side in this edition of the Indian Premier League to enter the semi finals. However, they had to wait almost a week to get into there. A win against the Chenni Superkings would have assured the Mumbai Indians a berth in the semi finals which was scheduled on the 6^th of this month at Chennai. But, all that the match would be remembered for would be the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar on the field due to the scorching heat in Chennai. Mumbai lost that game to the CSK by 7 wickets which delayed their march to the semis.

Then came the match against the Kings XI Punjab where a win should have been guaranteed to the Mumbai Indians for they were facing a team which was placed at the bottom of the IPL points table. But, no one needs to be specially said regarding the result of the match. The Mumbai Indians lost yet another time in the IPL. Coincidentally, that was the 2^nd defeat that the Mumbai Indians had in this edition of the IPL and on the other side, it was the 2^nd win for the Kings XI Punjab in this year's IPL after Sangakkara's men had beaten Kolkata Knight Riders by 8 wickets.

This was not only a match for the Mumbai Indians that took them to the semi finals of the IPL but also a match where Sachin Tendulkar grabbed the orange cap from Jaques Kallis after scoring an unbeaten 89 and over taking Kallis by 11 runs with both of them having the same number of matches and the same highest score. This was also the match that saw Sachin Tendulkar hit 2 sixes which was twice of what he could in the earlier 10 matches put together. Tendulkar has so far scored 5 half centuries which is one less than Jacques Kallis (once again).

This was Sachin Tendulkar's 4^th man of the match award and a much deserving one. Mumbai Indians were facing the Rajasthan Royals on their home ground where the Rajasthan Royals were fresh from their win against Kings XI Punjab and the Mumbai Indians fresh from the loss against the same Kings XI Punjab. Once again, what a coincidence! Mumbai Indians were at one stage reeling at 93 runs on the board with the loss of 4 wickets and Sachin having scored 48 from 43 deliveries compared to the final score of 174 with Sachin's individual score being 89 meaning an additional 41 runs from 15 balls.