Is it their freakish luck or is it simply Mumbai?
As Amol Muzumdar and Wilkin Mota started stalking the sizeable target of 268, there was an eye-widening possibility that Mumbai could do it again; take a visiting international side in their stride.
The hosts were fielding a young side at the Wankhede stadium for Sri Lanka's warm-up game. The team had undergone change at the top of the hierarchy with coach Chandrakant Pandit and captain Sairaj Bahutule moving to Maharashtra for the next domestic season.
They were taking on the second-best one-day team in the world. But as it happens when Mumbai plays opponent-- catches were spilt, the Lankan spinners, who had done exceedingly well against India in the IndianOil triangular tournament earlier the year in Sri Lanka were rendered ineffective.
Mumbai XI needed two runs to win from the last ball; Vinayak Samant chipped one off Dilhara Fernando and when the umpire signaled a no-ball, all arms went up at the stadium. The small but raucous crowd, which had worked up a considerable din with their shrieks and bottle-banging, burst in celebration.
Mumbai had indeed done it again. They had humiliated the Australians in 1998 then kept them away from victory on their next two tours in 2001 and 2004. Now it was Sri Lanka's turn to taste the Mumbai magic, and it was truly a memorable fare.
"I don't know whether it will set the tone for the one-day series," said captain Nilesh Kulkarni. "But we surely are proud of our performance today."
As they showed against Sri Lanka, Mumbai are a fighting unit. Their team efforts sometime mean they don't shine bright enough as individuals to catch the national selectors attention. But they are still a happy side; taking pride in each other's success and always pushing hard for the team goals.
Mumbai's spirit is also infectious. Pandit may have moved on to coach Maharashtra, but he came and cheered on Mumbai against Sri Lanka and was one of the first people to go and congratulate Kulkarni on the field. The enjoyment of being in a Mumbai dressing room is something he may find hard to give up.
There is pride too in wearing the Mumbai cap. Former player and Mumbai selector Sanjay Patil narrated an incident after the match; when he asked star off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan to pose for a picture with him and said that he played for Mumbai, the ever-smiling Murali thought it would be an honour to oblige Patil.
While the celebrations were on in the Mumbai camp, Sri Lanka coach Tom Moody refused to read too much into the result.
"We were not really looking at the result," the Australian said. "We are definitely disappointed but we will be focused on the one-day series against India."
But Muzumdar, who answered his critics with a well-paced 55, said Mumbai had a habit of disconcerting international teams.
"I think we have this lucky streak against these teams," said Muzumdar. "Somehow we always do against them.
"The same Sri Lankan spinners, who bowled very well in the tri-series couldn't dent Mumbai's batting because the youngsters in our team played them without any inhibitions. They were completely relaxed and the win was definitely a great start to the season for us."
We don't know if its their luck or their grit, but we do know it is one hell of a side to beat.
Can India take it on from here?
