Mumbai improve performance to thump Kolkata

KOLKATA: Dwayne Smith scored a quick 62 and significant contributions from Kieron Pollard and Rohit Sharma helped Mumbai Indians beat Kolkata Knight Riders by five wickets in the 33rd match of the IPL 2013 on Wednesday.

Chasing a total of 160 to win, Mumbai Indians achieved the target in 19.5 overs.

Smith scored 62 to lead Mumbai's reply, and Pollard (33 not out) and Rohit (34) ensured the tourists remain on track despite losing wickets at regular intervals.

Mumbai Indians made a slow but start in their chase of 160, reaching 28 for no loss after four overs.

Smith cracked a boundary off the second ball of the innings to provide some early momentum, but he wasn’t comfortable facing Iqbal Abdullah’s spin in the second over.

The birthday boy, Sachin Tendulkar didn’t get much of strike in the beginning and in the fifth over of their chase, Sunil Narine found a gap between the bat and pads of the Little Master to knock down his middle stump.

Despite early loss of Tendulkar, Smith continued playing strokes and brought up his half-century in 34 balls, smashing three boundaries and four sixes.

The attacking Caribbean batsman bounced back to slam two consecutive sixes off Abdulla in his second over, and one more in the left-arm spinner’s third to mark his dominance. Smith continued his assault, cracking a boundary and a six off Sachithra Senanayake in the eighth over of the match to complete his half-century.

Dinesh Karthik was out leg before in the same over, but the decision didn’t look convincing enough.

Karthik’s fall brought Rohit Sharma to the crease, and after a cautious start, the stand-in Mumbai skipper cracked two sixes off Senanayake’s 12th over of their chase.

But before that, Smith’s quickfire innings ended when he was caught by Brendon McCullum off Sunil Narine. Smith scored 62 off 45 balls, studded with three boundaries and five sixes.

Kolkata Knight Riders posted a competitive total of 159 for six.

The Knight Riders made a rollicking start in the first over off Harbhajan Singh with opener Yusuf Pathan cracking three boundaries off the first three balls and sending the fourth over the ropes.

Skipper Gautam Gambhir soon joined the party as he clobbered a six on the final ball to make it 26 from the first over.

Pathan failed to convert a brisk start into a big knock as Mitchell Johnson had him caught by Harbhajan Singh at first slip in the second over.

Pathan’s dismissal brought Kallis to the crease and he combined with Gambhir to take KKR ahead. The two seasoned campaigners added 41 runs for the second wicket as the hosts reached 65 for one before they lost their skipper.

Harbhajan did have a poor outing with the ball but he did well as a fielder taking two catches. The senior off-spinner caught Gambhir off Pragyan Ojha for 26 off 20 balls, which was studded with a six and two boundaries.

Kallis continued to score freely on both sides of the wicket, but he missed out on a half-century as he was caught in the cover region by thew stand-in Mumbai captain Rohit Sharma for 37 off Ojha in the 12th over. Kallis struck four boundaries during his stay at the crease.

Mumbai Indians pulled things back in control after Kolkata made a brisk start, and the new batsmen Eoin Morgan and Manoj Tiwary took a little time to settle in.

Morgan and Tiwary added a further 54 runs for the fourth wicket, taking the Knight Riders past the 100-run mark and putting a platform for a total in excess of 150.

Morgan too missed out on a half-century as he mistimed a delivery off Johnson and Rohit took a simple catch to send him back to the hut, after scoring 31.

The left-handed batsman cracked four boundaries and a six to score 31 from 25 balls.

Tiwary fell to Lasith Malinga on the fourth ball of the 19th over after getting 33 from 24 balls.

For the Mumbai Indians, Ojha, Malinga and Johnson claimed two wickets each.

Mumbai were without their regular captain Ricky Ponting, who is struggling with the bat and decided to opt out of the game.