Report: Mumbai get thrashed by Kolkata but manage to break Gautam Gambhir’s bat

Robin Uthappa hands over one half of his bat to Gautam Gambhir

At the IPL officials’ conclave, Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma reportedly urged the umpires not to intervene when the players have a go at each other. But unfortunately his team didn’t create enough opportunities to be aggressive on the field when they took on the defending champions in the IPL opener at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

If you are a KKR fan and if you wanted your team to continue from where they left last year, then you couldn’t be any happier. Mumbai Indians were handed a thrashing by KKR on the opening night of this this year’s IPL. The home team put up an all round show to win the match by seven wickets.

Early breakthroughs

KKR skipper, Gautam Gambhir won the toss and opted to field first. Morne Morkel would have been happy to see a tinge of green on the Eden wicket. Full marks to him, as he made complete use of the white ball in the early spell. Bowling his full quota in one go, Morkel got the early wicket of the danger man Aaron Finch.

Ambati Rayudu faced only two balls at the crease, before edging a bouncer from the big man straight into the hands of Yusuf Pathan at first slip.

Consolidation

Rohit Sharma, who fell short of another T20 hundred by two runs put up a 131 run- fourth wicket stand with Corey Anderson to take Mumbai to a total of 168 runs. With the aid of a few dropped catches, MI made 88 runs in the last six overs of their innings.

KKR lost Uthappa early. The score looked defendable, until Gambhir and Manish Pandey started playing aggressive cricket. Coming from a good domestic season, Pandey looked in complete control as he took on the Mumbai Indians bowlers.

Gambhir at the other end started scratchily. Vinay Kumar broke his bat. The Karnataka captain made him edge one too, Aditya Tare with the gloves spilling it.

Harbhajan Singh and Ojha were made to pay. Gambhir was severe on the spinners. Harbhajan made it easy for Gambhir by bowling half trackers. The two experienced spinners looked hopeless on the day.

Pandey made a quick 40 of 24 before top edging the off spinner’s ball. Gambhir carried on and made 57. Jasprit Bumrah got the wicket of Gambhir by bowling a faster one which got big on Gambhir who tried to play a pull shot.

Immediately after the strategic time out, Rohit Sharma brought in his strike bowler to not let KKR score the 37 runs that they needed of the last four. Malinga, as expected bowled four dot balls and gave away only two runs in the 17th over.

In steps Surya Kumar Yadav

The Mumbai lad moved to KKR in 2012. He had shown intent over these years, but his shot selection had always let him down. But Yadav was on a mission when he arrived at the crease and he made it look simple at the end.

It all started to go KKR’s way when Yadav smashed two huge sixes of Bumrah’s over. Yusuf Pathan added one more and 20 runs were scored of that over. Malinga was brought back again. MI’s last hope was thrashed when Surya Kumar deposited a full delivery from Malinga 101 meters into the stand.

Surya Kumar hit the winning runs and skipper Gautam Gambhir wore an assured look on his face. KKR have begun with a ‘bang’. And things are looking good for the defending champions.

Vinay Kumar’s ball might have broken Gambhir’s bat, but it was Kumar’s Mumbai Indians which wore a broken look at the end of the game – if early signs are anything to go by, they look an unbalanced side.