Mukesh Ambani, being a quieter sort, has worked unobtrusively behind the scenes. It is rumoured that the pre-final matches were shifted from the Patil Stadium to Wankhede because it was inconvenient for his large contingent to travel all the way to New Bombay. Incidentally, the Ambani inner circle is highly superstitious. Everyone now sits in the same order in the same row of seats for every single match. By the time this appears in print, we will know whether this was lucky for the Mumbai Indians.
Elsewhere, you can’t miss Preity Zinta’s exuberant presence. Even if she is less demonstrative than Shahrukh, her dimples are bigger, and prettier (or preittier) and with her team doing well, they stay there without any effort. She also has the advantage of motivating her team in a way Ambani, Khan or Mallya can’t: with a hug and a kiss. But has anyone noticed that these gestures are reserved only for good-looking players? Brett Lee was the beneficiary when he was here. Now it’s Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan so that even when Sreesanth was bawling his heart out in that incident with Harbhajan Singh, she was careful to only pat his back and stay away from his soggy, cry-baby face.
