Captain Rohit Sharma led from the front with a sparkling 84 not out as an inspired Mumbai Indians cruised to a six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders to open their account in the ninth season of Indian Premier League in Kolkata, on Wednesday.
- Scorecard
Chasing a challenging target of 188, Jos Buttler made the chase look easier, smashing his way to 41 off mere 22 balls and helped Mumbai Indians chase down the target with five balls to spare at the Eden Gardens.
Having stayed till the end, Sharma got his runs off just 54 balls, hitting 10 fours and two sixes in the process.
At a venue where he has scored centuries in the all three formats beside his epic ODI world record 264, Sharma did not put a wrong foot and looked in imperious form since kick-starting with a six against Andre Russell in the first over of the innings.
Gambhir struggled to contain Sharma as he dissected the field with ease while the likes of Buttler, who hit three sixes and three fours, and Mitchell McClenaghan, who stroked 20 from eight balls, played vital cameos.
There was a time when Mumbai Indians were in a spot with 101 required from 59 balls as KKR kept on attacking with their spin strategy.
In a tactical masterstroke, Mumbai's think-tank promoted the left-handed New Zealand all-rounder McClenaghan who turned it around with two successive sixes against Chawla and followed
that up with another slog over midwicket against left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav.
The cameo brought the required run-rate down and calmed Sharma's nerves and he also found fine support from Englishman Buttler who hit Russell for two sixes and one four to smash 18 runs in the 16th over to inch closer to the target.
After Buttler's departure in the third ball of the penultimate over, Sharma hit Russell for three boundaries in succession to bring it down to one run required from the last over, a formality Kieron Pollard completed to bring the defending champions' campaign back on track.
With six away games awaiting them, it's a disappointing loss for Kolkata Knight Riders, who surprised by preferring young Indian chinaman Kuldeep Yadav over ace spinner Sunil Narine, who joined the squad on Tuesday and was rested.
Earlier, half-centuries from captain Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey lifted Kolkata Knight Riders to a huge 187 for five against Mumbai Indians.
Gambhir led by example with 64 from 52 balls and the KKR skipper got fine support from talented youngster Pandey, who scored a rollicking 52 from 29 balls, to get the momentum going with a 100-run partnership from just 60 balls.
After Pandey's departure, Andre Russell played a nice cameo, scoring 36 from 17 balls, which was studded with four sixes and one four as KKR, at 163 for two in 17 overs, looked on course for a 200-plus total. But the Knights could manage just 24 runs and lost three wickets in last three overs as Mumbai's bowlers did well to pull things back towards the end.
It was the Mumbai Indians fielding that severely let them down as Gambhir got reprieves twice, on 30 and 55, and their bowling struggled to give breakthroughs in the middle overs.
On a pitch that looked perfect for batting, Mumbai Indians put Kolkata Knight Riders in to bat, who were off to a watchful start with six runs from two overs, but the opening pair of Gambhir and Uthappa quickly changed gear smashing Tim Southee for 13 runs in the third over.
McClenaghan gave the breakthrough in the fourth over with Uthappa (8) mistiming one to be easily taken by Kieron Pollard, but Mumbai Indians could not pull back from there on with some ordinary bowling down the leg.
Gambhir smashed Southee for successive boundaries in the next over and Pandey also got into the act picking up length eaisly and displaying some exquisite stroke-making.
Gambhir was dropped on 30 by Rohit Sharma with the ball going through the skipper's hands in Jagadeesha Suchith's first over and KKR made them pay dearly for that lapse.
MI's spin duo of Suchith and Harbhajan Singh struggled to get their act together and sloppy fielding only aided the home side as Pandey smashed some big sixes.
Pandey raced to his half century from just 26 balls, while Gambhir was a little slower notching the mark in 39 balls as he also got a second reprieve when Jasprit Bumrah dropped him on 55 off his own bowling, putting down a regulation catch.
Earlier, Mumbai Indians made three changes to their playing eleven after losing their previous match by nine wickets to debutants Pune Supergiants by bringing in Tim Southee, Jagadeesha Suchith and Parthiv Patel in place of Lendl Simmons, R Vinay Kumar and Shreyas Gopal.
Kolkata Knight Riders opted to give Sunil Narine rest after he joined the team on Tuesday night as they picked Kuldeep Yadav in place of Umesh Yadav, making it a three-spin line-up along with Brad Hogg and Piyush Chawla.
