Soil from Shivaji Park, vermillion from the Siddhivinayak and Mahalaxmi temples, with a sprinkling of holy water from Mount Mary made a perfect mix for a team keen on an auspicious start to their IPL campaign in the coming days. The launch also had a touch of melodrama with captain Sachin Tendulkar’s ageing coach Ramakant Achrekar sitting on a chair welcoming the players on the dais.

After a coconut-breaking ceremony at nets on Wednesday, the Mukesh Ambani-owned franchise team looked for divine intervention and blessings from Mumbai cricket's grand old man a day before the mega opening at Bangalore on Friday. In Mukesh’s absence, wife Nita played the perfect hostess, interacting with players and making them comfortable.

President of Reliance Retail R Balachandra spoke about the special launch. "In Mumbai, we have a different culture and different beliefs and that’s we decided to have this different tilak,” he said.

Tendulkar, who triggered a frenzy among photographers when he stepped on stage to touch coach Achrekar’s feet, quite expectedly went down memory lane — which in some ways explained how dust from Shivaji Park had landed on the foreheads of the Mumbai Indians squad. “Shivaji Park and Achrekar Sir have played a big role in my career. There is a water tap at the Ganesha temple at the park where I used to drink water and rest after a tough game,” he said.

While Pollock and Jayasuriya seemed quite amused by the events that unfolded on Thursday, the youngsters seemed overawed by the emotion. Baroda wicket-keeper Pinal Shah spoke about how he had never expected such a grand reception. “All this is new to us youngsters. I have been briefly interacting with the stars and the coming days seem very exciting,” Shah said, adding as an afterthought: "Mrs Ambani spoke to me in Gujarati."