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Mumbai off the mark, finally

Nadim Siraj

Posted online: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 2351 hrs Print Email


Kolkata, April 29: No powercuts, no conspiracies, no glitches, no controversies over cheerleaders. The bubble surrounding Shan Rukh Khan’s Kolkata Knight Riders burst tonight at the Eden Gardens on the place it matters most — the 22-yard strip.

In what turned out to be a damp squib for the Bollywood superstar’s much-hyped IPL campaign, it were the Mumbai Indians who had the last laugh, coasting to a comfortable seven-wicket win— their first of the tournament so far from five attempts — under Eden’s floodlights. It was the stalwart two-some of Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock that broke 80,000 hearts.

In the end, as Dwayne Bravo (64 runs off 53 balls) and Robin Uthappa (37 runs off 37 balls) found little difficulty in chasing the modest 138-run target — Mumbai Indians won with eight balls to spare — it was team owner Mukesh Ambani’s wife Nita who had the last laugh as she danced in the stands with actress Sameera Reddy.

For once, Shah Rukh wasn’t the cynosure of all eyes. His usual attempts at whipping up the fever didn’t quite get the usual reaction after skipper Sourav Ganguly had once again blundered with the bat, managing just four runs. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting (19) and new-found Kiwi hero Brendon McCullum (1) failed to click as well. Even young poster-boy Ishant Sharma — despite a stunning delivery that sent Jayasuriya’s stumps cartwheeling — got whipped around in the course of the 113-run fourth-wicket stand between Bravo and Uthappa.

Sachin Tendulkar, injured and out of the match, cheered on from the sidelines as Man of the Match Jayasuriya cast a spell around the Kolkata team with a three-wicket effort and then set up the chase with an explosive 18-run start to Mumbai’s successful chase.

Earlier, Ganguly & Co could do little to counter Shaun Pollock after they won the toss and elected to bat. It was nightmare right from the first over with the experienced South African speedster removing Ganguly and swashbuckler McCullum.

Ganguly, who has had a pathetic run so far in the IPL, gave the crowd much hope when he warily pulled Pollock for a four off the second ball. But he perished soon after, popping a catch to Jayasuriya in the slips off a sharp outswinger from Pollock. By the time the disheartened spectators could come to terms with the exit of their local hero, Pollock had made it six for two.

With two heavyweights back in the hut, and with Ponting struggling to get his act right in his last outing in the IPL, little known Bengal batsman Debabrata Das took charge. The 22-year-old player smashed five telling boundaries and two lusty sixes in the course of an entertaining 20-ball knock of 29.

With the Mumbai Indians trying to steadily taking full control, it was the wily Sri Lankan Jayasuriya who made the difference, with his left-arm spinners on a wicket that stayed on the slower side. If Pollock rocked Kolkata with his opening blitz, Jayasuriya mopped up the lower order to finish with figures of three for 14.

Mercurial all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla (40 runs), carried on from where he left in the previous match with some daring hits square of the wicket. But it wasn’t enough.

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