Mumbai Indians' veterans Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock stole
the limelight, wrecking the top and middle order of the Kolkata Knight Riders,
to restrict the hosts to a modest 137 for 8 in their Indian Premier League
tie here today.
The crafty Jayasuriya displayed variation in bowling and stuck to a tight line
to finish 4-1-14-3, a dream figure in the Twenty20 format of the game, as the
Mumbai Indians were set an asking rate of 6.9 by the Knight Riders before a crowd
of 80,000 at the Eden Gardens here.
Pollock (2/27), standing in as captain in place of the injured Sachin Tendulkar,
did the early damage removing openers Sourav Ganguly (4) and Brendon McCullum (2) in the first over on a pitch that looked sporting in sharp
contrast to the two-paced dry wicket that had been universally condemned nine
days back.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla (40 not out; 4x4, 2x6) emerged the top scorer, with
a late assault which somewhat retrieved the situation for the knight riders,
after they elected to bat first.
Skipper Ganguly's run drought continued as he departed in the third ball of
the match, edging an away going delivery to Jayasuriya after having tentatively
pulled Pollock to the fence in the previous delivery.
The Knight Riders suffered another setback two deliveries later, when McCullum
was trapped leg before by the former South African captain, and the city side
were reduced to 6 for 2.
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