Pollock got a big helping hand from Ashish Nehra, a true-blue Delhi player, but a man in Mumbai Indians blues these days. He struck the vital blow by dismissing the in-form Gautam Gambhir in the first over and later scalped two wickets in his last — 18th over of the game — to help Mumbai Indians win a close game. Another high point of Pollock’s day was the inspired bowling change. Dominic Thornely, who bowled for the first time in the tournament, got the most vital wicket of the game. The on-song Virender Sehwag was dimissed by Thornely with Pollock holding the catch. “I think Sehwag’s wicket was the turning point of the match; he is the man in form. And when we got Gambhir and the other top-order batsmen, we knew we had a chance,” he said. And the chance was grabbed by some brilliant catching by the hosts.

But in this euphoria of the Mumbai Indians’s revival, it should not be forgotten that the batting still has a ‘missing Tendulkar’ tag to it. The openers once again failed and the middle order too looked fragile. Though Robin Uthappa and Dwayne Bravo had dropped the anchor against Kolkata Knight Riders in the last game, but their failure here means they can’t be named a couple of ‘Mr Reliables’.

At home, they survived on the power of adrenalin and the jam-packed support — something that can’t be expected all the time. But maybe in the next game, Tendulkar will be back and the train that has finally come on track will start to chug along.