Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in their Indian Premier League match in Mumbai.
Sachin Tendulkar playing for Mumbai, in front of a packed Brabourne Stadium, provides for one of the most fascinating atmospheres on a cricket ground. Some of the senior members of the Cricket Club of India, a venue seeped in history, continue to cringe at the sight of Twenty20, yet even they couldn’t help but appreciate Tendulkar’s unadulterated and masterful innings against the Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday.
While it was Sachin who was the darling of the crowds, 20-year-old Saurabh Tiwary entertained with his lusty hitting while opener Shikhar Dhawan’s cameo helped Mumbai start their reply on a strong note.
Miserly and disciplined bowling performances from Lasith Malinga, Zaheer Khan and the impressive Harbhajan Singh, who gave away just 17 runs and accounted for Sourav Ganguly, ensured that even though Chris Gayle made a brisk 75 off 60, Kolkata Knight Riders finished with just 155.
The seven-wicket verdict gave Mumbai Indians their third win in four games and put them on top of the pile.
Tendulkar played with a new opening partner in the form of Delhi batsman Dhawan. Shane Bond and Ishant Sharma went for 12 runs each in their opening overs as Dhawan struck three boundaries in the first over and Tendulkar did the same in the second.
It prompted KKR captain Ganguly to turn to the off-spinners of Chris Gayle in the third over of the innings. Gayle kept things quiet for a while, giving just seven runs in his first over. In the next, Ishant paid the price for trying to bounce out Tendulkar.
The maestro punched through the covers for a boundary and then followed it up with two more, both pulls. The first was over fine leg and the next over deep mid-wicket. The 50 of the innings came in quick time (4.2 overs) and Mumbai were well and truly on their way to winning this game.
Tendulkar then whipped Gayle from middle stump to the mid-wicket boundary. Dhawan fell when he used his feet to left-arm spinner Murali Kartik and tried the chip over short mid-wicket but only found Ganguly.
The KKR captain seemed determined to take control of the proceedings. He introduced his talisman of this season - Angelo Mathews. Tendulkar was even more precise this time as he bisected fine-leg and deep square-leg to find another boundary.
Tiwary, with back-to-back fifties in the first week of this competition, looks a star for the future. He bats above the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. At the Brabourne, he made 30 off 24 and added 56 runs with Tendulkar for the second wicket.
Pollard didn’t justify his hefty fees or his reputation as a big-hitter on the day but Tendulkar, determined to take his team home, played an innings that was paced to perfection.
He brought up his half-century by hitting Sharma over mid-wicket for a boundary. His unbeaten 71 off just 48 balls puts him only behind Jacques Kallis and Virender Sehwag in the run-scorers’ list.
Tendulkar gave Rajagopal Satish the license to put the finishing touches to a well-controlled chase. But the architect of this victory was the Mumbai Indians’ skipper.
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