Shaun Pollock has put a smile back on the faces of the Mumbai Indians in the IPL

Go to Mumbai, and start discussing the IPL in a tea stall, bazaar or an auto-rick shaw.

Soon you will be surrounded with smiling and cheerful faces of Mumbaikars, bubbling with energy and sizzling with enthusiasm when asked about their own team, Mumbai Indians. And why shouldn’t they ?

By reducing the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders, the team have recorded their fifth straight win in the tournament. A sudden sense of pride of belonging to this metro city has gripped the haves and have-nots equally with these successive victories. Cheerful Mumbaikars in the form of film stars have suddenly risen from nowhere to record their presence between innings.

A bunch of men who looked out of sorts at the beginning of the tournament suddenly seem to wear a settled outlook with an explosive opening pair, a solid middle-order and a bowling line-up with sting.