Pakistan won the World Cup in 1992, but the most memorable moments of that World Cup belonged to New Zealand for they dominated the World Cup winning every match in the tournament except the last league match before being knocked out in the semi finals. Those who watched 1992 World Cup have fonder memories of New Zealenders domination of the tournament than that of Pakistan lifting the World cup.
Mumbai Indians too have given us similar memories in this edition of Indian Premier League, which many of us will remember even after 20 years. While many of us would want them to win the tournament which they richly deserve to even if they falter they cannot be faulted because they have given us great moments to cherish for many years. Even if a team other than Mumbai Indians is going to be the eventual winner of the tournament, still Mumbai Indians can proudly boast of being the league toppers of this edition of IPL much in the same manner New Zealanders finished as league toppers in 1992 World Cup.
True Mumbai have not dominated much in the same way as New Zealand as Mumbai Indians lost 3, while winning 9 of them with two more matches to go, but then winning IPL matches is more tougher than winning a World Cup. In 1992 New Zealand had the home advantage, small grounds tailor made for them but in IPL the home advantage is neutralized as each team has to play 7 matches away from home as well. Secondly in Cricket World Cup teams are not even matched as there are only 3 or 4 teams while the rest are push overs whereas in IPL there are no pushovers as every team has international heavy weights and have an equal chance of winning the tournament.
Another area which makes Mumbai Indians domination more memorable is the fact that Sachin Tendulkarthe batting genius was never rated highly as a captain and this edition of IPL he overcame that handicap to take Mumbai Indians to the top of the league. Sachin as a captain was unlucky in the inaugural edition but this edition was simply brilliant. This year Mumbai played like a top international team as they always found a man in crisis much in the same way when players like Gilchrist in the company of Warne, Mc Grath or Lee used to repeatedly bail Australia out of a batting crisis. While Sachin Tendulkar was exceptional with the bat on more than one occasion players like Rayudu, Tiwary, Harbhajan and Pollard bailed the team from possible crisis. The players with the glorious exception of Sachin may not have been consistent but were always there to bail the team out of a crisis.