Chris Gayle was the cynosure of all eyes at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. There was a huge roar in the stands moments after Mumbai Indians won the toss and elected to bat.
It wasn’t for Mumbai winning the toss, but for the West Indian opener, who entered the field with his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammates. The RCB opener’s popularity has increased after his record-breaking 175 not out against Pune Warriors in their last match in Bangalore.u00a0
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The crowd’s eyes followed Gayle wherever he was positioned on the boundary line.
When Kumble bowled…
Legendary Anil Kumble, who is the mentor for Mumbai Indians, was in action on Saturday. He didn’t come out of retirement, but the Bangalorean was bowling with a lot of enthusiasm at the nets during MI’s warm-up session.u00a0From a distance, it looked like Kumble could give any current spinner a run for his money even today. The line, length and trajectory were near perfect despite quitting all forms of the game more than two years ago (in January 2011). He then went to the Royal Challengers Bangalore dugout to meet former colleague Venkatesh Prasad before joining the MI boys again.
Photographers happy!
Photo journalists were a happy lot on Saturday. They were finally provided with a table where their laptops could be placed. This helped the photo journalists in sending pictures to their respective offices. Earlier, they had to use chairs, which wasn’t a convenient option. On an average 15-20 photographers cover a match.u00a0