Soon after Mumbai Indians finished its warm-up drills at the Maharashtra Cricket Association’s stadium at Gahunje, instead of heading towards the nets, the whole contingent trooped towards the dugout. A cake was arranged and the squad cheered its captain, Rohit Sharma, on his 29th birthday, before smearing cake on his face.
The Mumbai Indians contingent is used to celebrating birthdays of two of its special members every April during the Indian Premier League. More than the framed caricature with personal messages from each member of the side, Rohit would be hoping for a win on Sunday night against Rising Pune Supergiants as the real birthday gift.
Just like the last couple of seasons, the defending champion has had a topsy-turvy first half and will want to go into a five-day break on the back of a win in the Maharashtra Derby on the Maharashtra Day.
Having played its last game at the Wankhede on Thursday, all of its remaining six games will be away from home, so it will be imperative for it to start the last stretch with maximum points under the belt.
“Obviously Wankhede has been somewhere where we have preferred to play. We have done really well here, it’s been our home venue for the past so many years and it’s been almost like a fortress for us,” assistant coach Robin Singh said on Saturday.
“But I think we have accepted the fact that we need to play in different venues. Obviously IPL is a tournament where you have got to keep moving to different venues and I’m pretty sure we’ll be okay with those venues. Vizag (the venue for Mumbai Indians’ remaining three ‘home’ games) is a pretty good batting wicket as per my knowledge. So probably it would suit us pretty well.”
Just like Mumbai Indians, the host is also desperate for a win. In what will be its fourth and final game in Pune before Supergiants also adopt Visakhapatnam as home, M.S. Dhoni’s men will be eager to give their fans something to cheer. All three of their home games so far have resulted in losses.
“It’s obviously a very important one for us to win. We pretty much have to win most of our games from here on in, so hopefully we can turn the momentum around, get a few wins on the board in a streak and hopefully we’ll go from there,” Steve Smith said on Friday night after seeing his magnificent century go in vain against Gujarat Lions.
It will be interesting to see if the Indians end Rohit’s birthday celebrations on a perfect note or Supergiants play spoilsport on Sunday.
