As emotions ran high in the match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals yesterday, two young players remained calm and got the better of their two experienced counterparts. Needing two runs to win off the last ball, Niraj Patel and Ravindra Jadeja, both yet to play an international match, successfully scrambled through for a couple where none existed, as Sanath Jayasuriya and Dilhara Fernando made a mockery of their experience as they lost their nerves.

“That’s T20. It’s a suspense thriller. Two experienced veterans were undone by two young guys. In this format, whoever can keep the nerves cool and handle the pressure better will win,” said Mumbai Indians coach Lalchand Rajput today, ahead of his team’s match against Bangalore that has lost its significance with Mumbai knocked out of the semi-final race.

The climax was perhaps apt, for Mumbai have traced a path in the IPL that has defied any pattern. Everyone had written them off after four straight losses in the beginning, but just then they began their streak of victories — six on the trot. And the byte-hungry media ran after the Mumbai Indians players for stories of Shaun Pollock’s leadership, and then of Sachin’s return and how it inspired Jayasuriya to break out of his shell.

With the victories, they had emerged as one of the tournament favourites. But that was followed by a string of successive losses that them in a spot of bother. “We could not come out of critical moments of the game. Our opponents handled the crunch situations better,” said Rajput.

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