Mumbai rides on Eden, raids Riders

The game, which the Knight Riders lost by seven wickets, gave the beleaguered Mumbai Indians their first victory, as team owner Nita Ambani drowned King Khan’s six-pack support with a jig with actress Sameera Reddy.

For the SRK’s team, the stalwart twosome Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock were enough, breaking 80,000 hearts at a crammed Eden Gardens under the lights.

In the end, as Dwayne Bravo (64 runs off 53 balls) and Robin Uthappa (37 runs off 37 balls) found little difficulty in chasing down the modest 138-run winning target, the Mumbai Indians won with 8 balls to spare.

For once, King Khan wasn't the cynosure at the hallowed Eden Gardens. His usual attempts at whipping up the fever at the ground didn’t quite get the reception it got last time. And why not? Knight Riders skipper Sourav Ganguly blundered with the bat once again, managing just 4 runs. Aussie stalwart Ricky Ponting (19 runs) and new-found Kiwi hero Brendan McCullum (1 run) failed to click. Even young posterboy Ishant Sharma got whipped around in the course of the 113-run record 4th-wicket stand between Bravo and Uthappa.

And it was quite a sight, as Sachin Tendulkar, injured and out of the match, vociferously cheered on from the sidelines, as man of the match Jayasuriya cast a spell around the Knight Riders with a three-wicket effort and then set up the chase with an explosive 18-run start for the Mumbai Indians.

Ganguly & Co had little idea of the welcome waiting them in the form of Shaun Pollock when they won the toss and elected to bat. For SRK’s boys, it was a nightmare right from the first over, when the experienced Pollock dealt telling blows by removing the crowd’s darling Ganguly and swashbuckler Brendan McCullum in the day's opening over.

Ganguly, who has had a pathetic run so far in the IPL, gave the crowds much hope when he warily pulled Pollock for a four off the second ball. But the Knight Riders skipper only flattered to deceive, perishing by 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 shocking exit of their local hero, Pollock removed the dangerous McCullum to make it 6 for 2 off the first over.

With two heavyweights back in the hut, and with Ricky Ponting (19 runs) struggling to get his act right in his last outing in the IPL, little known local Bengal batsman Debabrata Das took over the reins.

The 22-year-old, burly player took Ambani's brigade by storm, smashing five boundaries and two lusty sixes in the course of an entertaining 20-ball, 29-run knock.

But again, the knock couldn't grow out of a mere cameo, as Das too perished just when he was looking to take the match away from the Mumbai Indians. Even as the Mumbai team were steadily getting their grip back on the proceedings, it was the wily Jayasuriya whose deceptive left-arm spinners did the trick on a wicket that stayed on the slower side.

If Pollock rocked the Knight Riders with his opening blitz and the eventual magic figures of 2 wickets for 27 runs off four overs, Jayasuriya mopped up the home team's lower order, finishing with neat figures of 3 for 14.