MI gift win to birthday boy

Chasing 160-run target, Mumbai Indians lost wickets at regular intervals against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Wednesday. A Ambati Rayudu (13*) hit the winning runs for Mumbai Indians and was unbeaten at the crease along with Harbhajan Singh (7*), whose six on the third ball of the last over set the tone for an emphatic Mumbai win.

Sunil Narine struck again to get rid of dangerousDwayne Smith (62), who raced to fifty in just 34 balls, in the eleventh over as the hosts rocked the Mumbai run chase. Smith was in his element as he smashed five maximums and three boundaries in his quick-fire 45 balls innings.

Soon after, Narine dismissed Rohit Sharma (34) after the West Indian caught the stand-in Mumbai skipper off his own bowling to bring the Knight Riders back into winning contention. A Earlier, spinner Sachithra Senanayake dismissed the in-form Dinesh Karthik (7) to give the hosts a crucial breakthrough as Mumbai are reduced to 64/2 in 7.5 overs.

Narine struck in his first over to dismiss the 'birthday boy' Sachin Tendulkar (2) cheaply and reduced Mumbai to 29/1 in 4.5 overs. A Electing to bat first, Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen managed 159/6 in 20 overs against Mumbai.KKR were cruising in the beginning, when they raced to fifty in just 4.1 overs, but failed to capitalise on the initial momentum set by their openers in the latter stage.

Lasith Malinga struck twice in the final over, conceding just 3 runs, to halt the hosts final run charge. Malinga dismissed Manoj Tiwary (33) and Debabrata Das (6) to finish his spell with 2-25 in four overs. A Tiwary put on 54-run stand with Eoin Morgan (31) for the fourth wicket to lead the Knight Riders fightback after losing three top-order batsmen. Tiwary hit a six and two fours before Malinga clean bowled him in the final over.

Morgan (31) became Mitchell Johnson's second victim in the eighteenth over after a decent stand with Tiwary as KKR raced to 150 in the 18.1 overs. Morgan smashed a six and four boundaries in his quick-fire 25-ball knock. A Knight Riders lost wickets at regular intervals in the middle overs after a solid start against Mumbai.

For the visitors Pragyan Ojha (2-21) and Johnson (2-26) also contributed handsomely with the ball. A Kolkata reached 100-run mark in the 12.5 overs as they look for a decent total against the Mumbai. A Left-armer Ojha struck again in the twelfth over to dismiss Jacques Kallis (37) and reduced KKR to 92/3 in 11.4 overs. Kallis smacked four boundaries in his cautious 38-ball innings.

Hosts skipper Gautam Gambhir (26) mistimed Ojha's delivery in the eighth over to give away a crucial breakthrough to the visitors. Gambhir hit a six and couple of fours in his quick 20-ball knock and added 41-run stand for the second wicket with Kallis.

KKR raced to fifty in just 4.1 overs as Gambhir and Kallis continued the momentum set by Yusuf Pathan (19) in the very first over. A Yusuf hit a maximum and three fours in his 6-ball 19 cameo. A Due to rain delay, the toss was held at 8 pm and subsequently the game began at 8:30 pm.

Brief Scores: KKR 159 for 6 (Jacques Kallis 37, Manoj Tiwary 33, Pragyan Ojha 2/21) lost to MI 162 for 5 (Dwayne Smith 62, Sunil Narine 3/17).