Sachin: I’m still learning

It was a day to remember for two veterans of the game. While Sachin Tendulkar basked in the glory of Mumbai Indians’ 37-run victory over Deccan Chargers on Sunday, Shane Warne led the Rajasthan Royals to a spectacular eight-wicket victory over Kochi Tuskers Kerala.

Mumbai maintained their dominance at the top of the IPL points table, but Rajasthan Royals shot to second spot with their victory after three defeats and a washout against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

For Sachin, however, the victory was extra special. It came on the maestro’s 38th birthday. Sachin was dismissed for 28 after a brisk start, but Rohit Sharma (56 not out) and Andrew Symonds (44 not out) set the tempo before Lasith Malinga finished off with a brilliant bowling performance (4-0-9-3). Sachin said he was happy to take the back seat, Sunday, as others chipped in with match-winning performances.

“If you ask a 38-year-old, these are good breaks to have, but certainly not for a 19-year-old. We’ve got quite a few youngsters in our team. The beauty of this tournament is that we get to learn so many different things along the way. I am still learning,” Sachin said on Sunday.

Mumbai were off to a flier after Davy Jacobs launched into an early attack. He stitched together 47 runs for the opening stand with Sachin. But a flurry of wickets in the middle stifled the run chase before Rohit and Symonds plundered 60-odd runs in the last four overs.

“We got off to a very good start. Davy (Jacobs) played some brilliant shots and then we lost those three wickets in between. But again Rohit Sharma was very special and Symmo (Andrew Symonds) as always is a champion,” Sachin said.

“That partnership (between Rohit and Symonds) was really important for us and that helped us get to the total (172 for 4). It was a good score, though we were possibly short by 20-25 runs I would say. Because we lost those three wickets, Rohit and Symmo had to play differently,” the maestro added.

Mumbai’s fielding has been excellent throughout and Sachin’s men have produced some brilliant catches. Even Sunday was no exception as the visitors forced three run outs and Jacobs pulled off a top-class stumping.

“I thought our fielding was brilliant today (Sunday), a couple of run outs and then a special stumping by Davy (Jacobs) really changed the game. We have set a high standard, so we have to follow that,” Sachin said.

Despite all the turbulence over his Test retirement, Malinga was on target each time he steamed in with the ball. The slinger hit the right lengths and mixed it up with yorkers on demand. He was instrumental in removing Chargers’ skipper Kumar Sangakkara. The former Lankan skipper became impatient as wickets tumbled at the other end. A misadventure against Malinga saw his woodwork disturbed.

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