Avik Roy
Kolkata, April 8: Mumbai’s Suryakumar Yadav (46, 20b, 1×4, 5×6) played a blinder against Mumbai Indians (MI) to help defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) start their IPL-VIII campaign with a seven-wicket victory here Wednesday at the Eden Gardens.
As a visibly excited Shah Rukh Khan watched proceedings from the VIP box, KKR chasing a target of 169 romped home with nine balls to spare. After Gautam Gambhir (57, 43b, 7×4, 1×6) and Manish Pandey (40, 24b, 2×4, 3×6) had laid the platform for victory with a second wicket stand of 85 in little less than 10 overs, Yadav simply took the match away with his blitzkrieg. None of the Mumbai bowlers could withstand the power hitting with India discard Harbhajan Singh (1/38) turning out to be the most expensive.
It was a nice way to start for the defending champions as except for a brief period in the game, they controlled the shots all through.
Earlier MI plundered 80 runs in the last six overs to take their score past the 160-run mark. It was some amazing hitting by Rohit Sharma (98 n o, 65b, 12×4, 4×6) and Kiwi Corey Anderson (55 n o, 41b, 4×4, 3×6). Rohit, the MI skipper, was unlucky to miss his 100 by two runs.
With quite a few spinners in his playing XI, KKR skipper, Gambhir opted to field first after winning the toss. His decision proved right early on as Morne Morkel dismissed Aussie opener Aaron Finch who holed out to Umesh Yaadav at long-off. However, the Rohit show started immediately after as the skipper hit Yadav for three boundaries in the very next over.
Gambhir introduced spin in the fifth over and Shkaib Al Hasan struck quickly dismissing Aditya Tare with the last ball of his first over. In the very next over, Morkel got his second wicket having Ambati Rayudu caught at slip by Yusuf Pathan. At 37 for three MI were in real trouble.
But then Rohit and Anderson started the revival effort. While Anderson rotated the strike deftly, Rohit took the attack to the KKR bowlers hitting some elegant shots on both sides of the wicket.
As usual, there was a lot of attention on Sunil Narine who was making a comeback into competitive cricket with a re-modelled action. Even though, he did not get any wickets, Narine bowled a tight length and line going for only 28 in his four overs. Understandably, he was a bit rusty to start with, but that was expected.
Brief scores:
MI 168 for three (Rohit Sharma 98 n o, Corey Anderson 55 n o, Morne Morkel 2/18) lost to KKR 170 for three (Gautam Gambhir 57, Suryakumar Yadav 46 n o) by seven wickets.
