Ambati Rayudu, who is considered unlucky for not having played for India, combined with Jharkhand youngster Saurabh Tiwary to help Mumbai Indians recover from a triple-strike in the first third of the innings, and took the hosts to an imposing total, their highest. Rayudu and Tiwary added 110 runs in 63 balls, negating the loss of Sanath Jayasuriya, Sachin Tendulkar and young wicketkeeper Aditya Tare in three overs - after a flier from the top order that took them to 70 in 6.3.
Shane Warne didn't have to wait too long to find out if Tendulkar "will open and face [Shaun] Tait. Or drop himself down order and let others take on Tait". It was actually Warne who made Mumbai wait, by giving the first over to Dimitri Mascarenhas. Jayasuriya tucked into gentle-paced length bowling, and Tendulkar took Tait apart. Off the four bowls that Tait bowled to Tendulkar, 10 runs came, included two flicked boundaries. His four overs would go for 46 runs.
The flying start couldn't endure, however, and Mascarenhas came back to take out Tendulkar and Tare out in the seventh over. At that point, the onus was on the Indian batsmen. It was fitting that two Indian youngsters rose to the occasion: Mumbai had earlier become the first team in three seasons to play just three overseas players. Rayudu immediately showed glimpses of what would have made observers talk of him as a potential international. The first ball he faced he flicked wristily for four, lest anybody forgot he comes from Hyderabad.
It was just as well that Tendulkar didn't survive long enough to give the viewers the much-awaited contest against Warne: the latter was off colour and duly had an off day, going for 29 runs in three overs. There was no turn for Warne, and he bowled too many half-volleys. Tiwary took full toll, and hit him down the ground for two fours and a six. By the time Warne took himself off, Mumbai had reached 121 in 12 overs. Tiwary had reached 26, and Rayudu 23, off 17 balls each.
Warne's captaincy too left a few questions to be asked: Kamran Khan bowled just one over while Abhishek Jhunjhunwala and Yusuf Pathan's part-time offbreaks hurt Rajasthan bad. Rayudu hit three successive Jhunjhunwala deliveries for a huge six and fours either side of long-on. When he next smacked a six off Yusuf, he had reached 53 off just 30 deliveries, and Mumbai had rocketed to 166 in 16.3.
Tiwary reached his fifty by hitting Amit Uniyal, whose change-up delivery was the quicker one, to the long-on boundary. In fact it was all clean hitting down the ground from the two: out of the 108 they scored between them, only 16 came behind square.
Rayudu and Tiwary didn't see the innings to the close, but Harbhajan Singh and Ryan McLaren contributed to Tait's horror day, taking 22 off his last two overs.