Mumbai off the mark, finally

In the end, as Dwayne Bravo 64 runs off 53 balls and Robin Uthappa 37 runs off 37 balls found little difficulty in chasing the modest 138-run target 8212; Mumbai Indians won with eight balls to spare 8212; it was team owner Mukesh Ambani8217;s wife Nita who had the last laugh as she danced in the stands with actress Sameera Reddy.

For once, Shah Rukh wasn8217;t the cynosure of all eyes. His usual attempts at whipping up the fever didn8217;t quite get the usual reaction after skipper Sourav Ganguly had once again blundered with the bat, managing just four runs. Australian skipper Ricky Ponting 19 and new-found Kiwi hero Brendon McCullum 1 failed to click as well. Even young poster-boy Ishant Sharma 8212; despite a stunning delivery that sent Jayasuriya8217;s stumps cartwheeling 8212; got whipped around in the course of the 113-run fourth-wicket stand between Bravo and Uthappa.

Sachin Tendulkar, injured and out of the match, cheered on from the sidelines as Man of the Match Jayasuriya cast a spell around the Kolkata team with a three-wicket effort and then set up the chase with an explosive 18-run start to Mumbai8217;s successful chase.

Earlier, Ganguly 038; Co could do little to counter Shaun Pollock after they won the toss and elected to bat. It was nightmare right from the first over with the experienced South African speedster removing Ganguly and swashbuckler McCullum.

Ganguly, who has had a pathetic run so far in the IPL, gave the crowd much hope when he warily pulled Pollock for a four off the second ball. But he perished soon after, 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 exit of their local hero, Pollock had made it six for two.

With two heavyweights back in the hut, and with Ponting struggling to get his act right in his last outing in the IPL, little known Bengal batsman Debabrata Das took charge. The 22-year-old player smashed five telling boundaries and two lusty sixes in the course of an entertaining 20-ball knock of 29.

With the Mumbai Indians trying to steadily taking full control, it was the wily Sri Lankan Jayasuriya who made the difference, with his left-arm spinners on a wicket that stayed on the slower side. If Pollock rocked Kolkata with his opening blitz, Jayasuriya mopped up the lower order to finish with figures of three for 14.

Mercurial all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla 40 runs, carried on from where he left in the previous match with some daring hits square of the wicket. But it wasn8217;t enough.