Jayasuriya, Bravo seal Mumbai win

KOLKATA—Inspired by Sanath Jayasuriya’s 3 for 14, the best figures of the tournament, the Mumbai Indians put their off-field troubles aside and pulled off their first win. On a slow Eden Gardens pitch, though not as difficult as the minefield in the previous game, Dwayne Bravo and Robin Uthappa chased down the 138 needed for victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
Sanath Jayasuriya took 3 for 14, the best figures of the tournament, to give the struggling Mumbai Indians a great chance to pull off their first win. On a slow Eden Gardens pitch, though not as difficult as the minefield in the previous game, Kolkata needed the efforts of two local players, Debabrata Das and Laxmi Ratan Shukla, to reach 137.
After Kolkata chose to bat, Mumbai’s stand-in captain Shaun Pollock stunned the huge crowd, removing local hero Sourav Ganguly and the dangerous Brendon McCullum in the first over. Ganguly chased at a wide delivery and only managed a thick edge that was smartly held by Jayasuriya at wide slip. McCullum, needing just 3 to become the tournament’s leading run-getter, was trapped lbw for 1, leaving Kolkata at 6 for 2.
They could have been in more trouble had an inside-edge from Ricky Ponting crashed into the stumps instead of running away to fine leg. The early momentum was provided by IPL debutant Das, who walked in at No. 4 and, making light of the team’s predicament, played his shots. Pollock was hit over midwicket for a big six and three leg-side fours followed in the next couple of overs. Das, who favours the cut and got his innings going with two of them off Ashish Nehra in the second over, fell tamely as another flew straight to Robin Uthappa at point off Dwayne Bravo.
Bravo bowled an exceptional spell, keeping it just short of a length and outside off, giving away just four runs in two overs. Kolkata’s hopes rested with Ponting and David Hussey and the pair consolidated for a couple of overs with singles and the odd boundary. Ponting was unable to get his timing right or middle the ball, and Hussey tried to up the tempo slamming Pollock for two fours. Jayasuriya, tossing it up instead of firing it in as he usually does, broke the partnership by luring Hussey into swiping one to mid-on in the 11th over for 17. His next over, a maiden, saw two wickets fall in it as well. A run-out put Ponting out of his misery and two balls later Mohammad Hafeez nicked one to the wicketkeeper Pinal Shah as Kolkata slid to 77 for 6.
Shukla, who revived Kolkata batting with a quick 42 against the Chennai Super Kings, was called on to rescue his team yet again. He smashed two fours and a six each off Bravo and Dilhara Fernando as 44 runs were plundered in the last four overs.
The efficient performance will come as a relief for Mumbai, whose campaign is in turmoil: they are at the bottom of the table after losing all four of their games, their icon Sachin Tendulkar is yet to make his IPL debut and their US$850,000 signing and stand-in captain Harbhajan Singh has been banned for the rest of the tournament after his row with Sreesanth during the match against the Kings XI Punjab.
Teams: Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Sourav Ganguly (capt), 2 Brendon McCullum (wk), 3 Ricky Ponting, 4 David Hussey, 5 Mohammad Hafeez, 6 Laxmi Ratan Shukla, 7 Ajit Agarkar, 8 Debabrat Das, 9 Murali Kartik, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashok Dinda. Mumbai Indians 1 Sanath Jayasuriya, 2 Robin Uthappa, 3 Dwayne Bravo, 4 Shaun Pollock (capt), 5 Abhishek Nayar, 6 Ajinkya Rahane, 7 Manish Pandey, 8 Pinal Shah (wk),9 Ashish Nehra, 10 Dhaval Kulkarni, 11 Dilhara Fenando.

—Agencies