For Mumbai Indians' IPL campaign this season, Hardik Pandya's favourite rallying cry, of late, has been 'Apna Time Aayega' - our time will come. The franchise has gone five years without a title, and his message has remained steadfastly the same: our time will come. They hadn't won their opening game for 13 seasons either. He no longer needs to repeat the iconic Hindi phrase. Their time has finally arrived - and how!

It required a record-breaking chase for Mumbai Indians to pull it off, but they made a mockery of the challenge. Chasing 220-plus is no picnic - it has been achieved only five times in 18 seasons of the IPL - but on Sunday night, Pandya's side got it done with power and panache against Kolkata Knight Riders to break their 13-year jinx.

"Obviously, it's been a long wait. 13 years is a very long time. And, you know, every time we have come, we have wanted to win and start the season with a high. Very glad, the whole group is very glad that we were finally able to do it," said skipper Pandya. "Yeah, it's brilliant," added coach Mahela Jayawardene.

It was no ordinary victory, and it sends out a strong message to the other nine franchises of the league. The IPL is a long tournament and momentum can shift within a couple of games, but this Mumbai Indians side looks like it means business this season. It was a statement win - not just in the result, but in the manner of it. Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah: the devil lies in the detail.

Returns from Shardul Thakur (three for 39) and Ryan Rickelton (81) came in the form of better numbers - wickets and runs - but Rohit and Bumrah's chutzpah, class and gravitas made the difference to the contest. Their contribution went beyond just numbers, being standout factors at the Wankhede on Sunday night.

Rohit, once famously called the Rolls Royce of batting, has lately been the talk of the circuit for his weight loss and leaner, meaner frame. Whether he would be able to convert that fitness transformation into performance on the field was the question. He answered it in style. A 38-ball 78 (4x6, 6x6) at a staggering strike rate of 205: he was not just Rolls Royce, but a Ferrari too. Once he got off the blocks, there was no stopping him.

"It's a treat. I've seen batters play some terrific shots. But whenever I've seen Ro play some shots, I think it opens everyone's mouth. So, nothing short of exceptional, nothing short of brilliant. And I'm so, so happy that Rohit played his knock," Pandya raved about his star batter.

Having retired from two formats of international cricket and having last played a T20 game about 10 months ago, there was always a question mark over his transition and flow with the format. But Rohit looked as if he was coming straight off the just-concluded T20 World Cup. His signature pull shots were as imperious as ever and the timing of his other strokes remained as majestic as always.

"He's freeing himself up. He's thinking much calmer. He's not the leader, so there's less pressure on him. This happens - it happened to me as well in my last few years. You practise less, but your memory, your muscle memory works. You just go with the flow. You know what the bowlers are trying to do. When you're in that mode, you have that freedom, which we noticed in Rohit in the last couple of years. We've encouraged him to go and do that. The rest of the team is backing him to do that. I'm quite happy about it," said Jayawardene.

It is said that Rohit has consistently worked with the physios and trainers of the Mumbai Indians on his fitness, and was often seen at the BKC ground preparing for the IPL season. After years, he was present from the very first day of the pre-season MI camp. "I think after so many years, I've had him from day one of the camp. He played some really good practice games. We had a lot of simulations for him, especially to get him going. I was quite happy with the way he was hitting the ball," Jayawardene further said of Rohit.

The 38-year-old this season is all about desire, hunger and determination - and it amply showed in his approach on Sunday night. As is well known, he hasn't had a 500-run year since 2013, but having hit the sweet spot in the very first match in typically dominating fashion, that number should not be difficult for him to breach. That is not good news for the opposition.

If Rohit was all class and finesse, Bumrah was all force, intensity and precision. The MI spearhead seemed to relive the World Cup semi-final against England, when he turned the match on its head in his final two overs by stopping England from overhauling India's total. On Sunday, he produced a similar effort, preventing the Knight Riders from racing away to a 240-plus total.

His well-calibrated accuracy with yorkers, full-length and slower deliveries proved too much for the visitors, who had to settle for 220 after looking set for at least 20 more. His second over - the 12th of the innings - went for just five runs at a time when KKR had raced away to a blazing start. It was from that over that the momentum shift began, with Ajinkya Rahane, despite being in fine nick, unable to force the pace.

After reaching 50 off 27 deliveries, the Knight Riders skipper managed just 17 from his next 13 balls, and at one stage was eight off 10 deliveries. The stutter was engineered by Bumrah, who conceded only eight runs in his third over - the 18th of the innings - and a further 10 in the final over to put the brakes on KKR's charge. He deftly kept the ball full, mixing in yorkers and the occasional slower one. His none for 34 without was far more valuable than it might appear.

Rahane paid the ultimate tribute to the MI pacer stating that he was the difference to the result of the game. "We thought we batted really well. We were 15-20 runs short and probably the difference with Bumrah. Without Bumrah, we would have easily got 230-240 on this wicket," the KKR skipper remarked.