Sachin guided Mumbai to victory

Sachin Tendulkar played one of his finest knocks in Twenty20 cricket on Monday night to lead Mumbai Indians to a famous win over Kolkata Knight Riders.

Tendulkar's controlled master class ensured that the Mumbai Indians maintained a clean slate against Kolkata Knight Riders in DLF-IPL.

Tendulkar slammed 71 (48b, 10x4) as Mumbai Indians chased down a modest Kolkata Knight Riders target of 156 at their home ground, Brabourne Stadium.

In the end, the seven-wicket win was an apt end to a clash where the home team played through the course of the game.

Right from the time Sourav Ganguly promptly chose to bat first after winning the toss, Mumbai Indians seemed to have an edge. Both sides made changes to their playing XIs and more importantly, right at the top of the order.

Ganguly and Chris Gayle walked out to form a new opening pair for Knight Riders in the tournament. Gayle and Ganguly made a measured start of 70. Ganguly (31: 34b, 5x4), still not at his best, let Gayle take charge.

After Ganguly departed, Gayle and Owais Shah put on 82 runs as the slow nature of the pitch ensured that the partnership never really took off.

Gayle (75: 60b, 7x4, 2x6) in his first game of IPL 2010 stood out for Knight Riders, but it was an uncharacteristic knock. Mumbai Indians pace attack responded well to the Gayle challenge and then Harbhajan Singh bowled a miserly spell.

What looked like a modest target was further diminished by a new opening pair for Mumbai Indians. Tendulkar, though, held the innings together after new partner Shikhar Dhawan departed.

A brief lull in the chase created excitement but Kolkata Knight Riders’ bowling was rather wayward. Ishant Sharma raised hopes but along with Shane Bond, disappointed with his extravagant approach.

Ganguly marshalled his resources reasonably, and even pulled off a stunning catch, but it was never going to be enough.

In the end it was only fair that the wave of blue at the Brabourne Stadium got what they asked for, a Mumbai Indians win.