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The Mumbai Indians set right their campaign winning at a canter against the Kolkata Knight Riders, after suffering a loss to Bangalore in the previous game, also at home. Kolkata meanwhile appear to be heading in the wrong direction as they crashed to their 5th defeat at the hands of Mumbai, and their 3rd straight loss this season. Mumbai outshone the Knight Riders pretty much in every department, with some excellent bowling that restricted Kolkata to 155 despite 75 solid runs from Chris Gayle, before the Little Master shepherded his flock home from start to finish.

Gayle, after sitting out the previous game as the Indian climate got to him, was picked over Brad Hodge, and a further couple of changes were made as Indian under-19 players Mandeep and Harpreet Singh came in for Manoj Tiwary and Ashok Dinda. Mumbai dumped the out-of-form Sanath Jayasuriya for Ryan McLaren and the injured Ambati Rayudu for his once under-19 teammate Shikhar Dhawan. Sourav Ganguly won the toss against his long time opening batting partner and opted to make first use of the pitch at the Brabourne Stadium.

Gayle was off right away as he flicked the first ball he faced down to fine leg as Lasith Malinga strayed onto his pads. Young keeper Aditya Tare conceded 5 byes to make it 10 off the very first over. Gayle then respectfully defended almost a full over from Zaheer Khan, and one wondered if he was setting himself up for a long innings. Ganguly finally got things really started with three consecutive hits to the fence in the third over from Ryan McLaren, a couple of pulls past short fine, and a gloriously elegant cut through point.

Despite the brisk start, the duo meandered through the overs, with neither looking to take the initiative to score at a T20 clip. The Mumbai bowlers seemed to have worked out some very effective restrictive strategies and were executing them brilliantly. Neither Gayle nor Ganguly enjoyed the lack of pace on the ball, and on a fairly easy track for batting, it looked as if it was difficult to put power behind their shots. Gayle made use of some pace that was offered by his Caribbean teammate Dwayne Bravo, muscling a short one to the midwicket boundary with a flat, hard hit. Meanwhile, Harbhajan bowled a magnificent spell, giving away no room to maneuver the ball, and aimed his deliveries right at the toes of the batsmen. The lack of boundaries got to Ganguly and he tried an ugly hoick over midwicket but missed and had Bhajji hitting his stumps. The opening partnership had lasted quite a while, 70 off 66 balls, but in a T20 context, one would have expected at least 15-odd runs more in that many balls faced.

Owais Shah arrived at the crease, and still no real attempt was made to up the scoring rate. Bravo though continued to be a touch expensive conceding two much-needed boundaries (from Kolkata's perspective) in his comeback over. The real charge materialized only as late as the 16th over from Zaheer, when Gayle finally got going with 2 fours off the first two balls to bring up his fifty, and also for the first time in his innings bring his strike rate up above 100. Off the last ball, he smacked a mistimed hit over long-on for his second six to bring up the biggest over of the innings, costing 16. McLaren gave away 14 in the 18th, but the last two, from Malinga and Zaheer produced only 16 between them when the Knight Riders were looking to put their foot on the accelerator. Like in their last match against Bangalore, a total of just 155 was never really going to scare the opposition into submission, and they would have needed a real lion hearted performance with the ball to make a contest of it.

Kolkata needed wickets up front from the new ball bowlers, but the task was made doubly hard due to some ordinary bowling and splendid batting first up. The Mumbai Indians dealt only in boundaries as Shikhar Dhawan creamed 3 off Bond and then Sachin added three exquisite ones of his own against Ishant Sharma. Sharma conceded 3 more to Sachin in his next over, and clearly, he had learnt nothing from the Mumbai bowlers' strategy of taking the pace off the ball. It was all too easy for the Little Master as he effortlessly picked the gaps with the ball coming on nicely. The need for bringing on the slower bowlers was not lost on Ganguly, though, and Gayle and Murali Kartik were introduced. The boundary count immediately came under control, and Kartik's masterful left-arm orthodox produced the first wicket as Ganguly snatched a sharp reflex catch overhead at short midwicket to send back Dhawan.

The spell from Kartik, Mathews and Gayle effectively tied down the rampaging Indians, and the runrate was brought under check. There was a massive moment in that period as a leading edge from Sachin lobbed back to Kartik, but he couldn't sight the ball and failed to latch on to the return catch.

Just as the required rate started to push 8.5, Tiwary started the timely assault that once more brought down the equation to more-than-manageable terms, as he spanked anything that was not full with full force. He first carted Mathews into the crowd over long-on, before hammering Gayle to the fence thrice in an over. Ganguly responded by bringing back Ishant Sharma, and ssachin responded with two majestic pulls to midwicket. Sharma did get a breakthrough though, as Tiwary looked to muscle over short cover, but Ganguly standing there pulled off a stunner of a one-handed catch leaping backwards, where the athleticism of the take strongly belied his age and reputation as a man of royal disposition. Sharma also got Kieron Pollard out lbw in the next over, but by then it was all too late; in fact, Kolkata had never been in with a chance at all. Rajagopal Sathish gave the chase a spectacular finish with his audacious strokeplay, particulary against Bond, and the Mumbai Indians romped home with 9 balls and 7 wickets to spare.

Sachin was adjudicated the Man-of-the-Match for his fluent 71 not out off 48, but the real stars were the bowlers, Harbhajan, Zaheer and Malinga. They now move back to the top of the table and, alongside Bangalore, really look the strongest team in the competition. The Chennai Super Kings are lined up next for them, once more at home, and that should be a cracker of a contest to watch out for.

Kolkata seem to be replicating their horrifying run of the first season, two wins followed by three losses, and they most desperately need their batting to come good, big time. They would much rather have preferred being 170 all out today to 155/3, and that inability to use the wickets in hand seems to be hurting them. They are drawn up against the Kings XI Punjab next, and although Punjab have had an even worse season thus far, they at least have got the momentum back with their come-from-behind victory against Chennai on Sunday.

Mini Scorecard:

Kolkata Knight Riders: 155/3 (20.0 overs)
Chris Gayle 75 (60 balls; 7x4; 2x6)                  Zaheer Khan 4-0-27-2
Owais Shah 31 (23 balls; 3x4)                         Harbhajan Singh 4-0-17-1

Mumbai Indians: 156/3 (18.3 overs)
Sachin Tendulkar 71* (48 balls; 10x4)             Ishant Sharma 4-0-44-2
Saurabh Tiwary 30 (24 balls; 3x4; 1x6)            Murali Kartik 4-0-21-1

Also Read:

Match Preview - Delhi Daredevils  vs. Deccan Chargers

Match Preview - Royal Challengers Bangalore vs. Chennai Super Kings

File Photograph Copyright: Gayatri Naik

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