Mumbai Indians crush Kolkata by 8 wickets

Sanath Jayasuriya hammered an unbeaten 48 off 17 balls and Shaun Pollock claimed three wickets for 12 runs as Mumbai Indians humbled Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in the Indian Premier League match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday night.

After dismissing the visitors for a paltry 67 runs, which came off 15.2 overs, Mumbai Indians hit up the required runs in 5.3 overs, finishing on 68 for the loss of two wickets.

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The wickets to fall were those off Sachin Tendulkar (0) and Robin Uthappa (9).

Pollock's a deadly four-over spell, bowled on the trot on a helpful Wankhede track, ripped the heart out of Kolkata Knight Riders as they were shot out for the lowest score in the tournament. The worst score previously in the tournament was Bangalore Royals' 82 against Knight Riders, which came off only 15.1 overs.

Put in to bat, the Kolkata team was in dire straits after losing half their side with only 29 on the board. The top order was undone by some exceptional seam bowling by Pollock, to a large extent, and his West Indian comrade-in-arms Dwayne Bravo.

Bravo, who will return home to play in the Test and ODI series against Australia, had impressive figures of 2 for 13.

Later, local talent Rohan Raje and Australia's Dominic Thornely grabbed two wickets apiece as the Kolkata team surrendered meekly. Only Salman Butt (13), Sourav Ganguly (15) and Ajit Agarkar (15) reached double figures in a shocking display from a team aiming for a spot in the semi-finals.

The visitors totally lost their bearings after starting reasonably well through Pakistan left-hander Butt and Aakash Chopra, who put on 16 in the first two overs.

Butt hit Pollock for a four and then slashed Ashish Nehra for a fine six over the cover region and things looked a bit rosy for Kolkata, who had lost to the home team earlier in the tournament at the Eden Gardens that started the latter's winning streak after four straight defeats.

But in the third over things took a dramatic turn as the visitors lost two wickets off successive balls. Pollock dismissed Butt, who was caught at slips by Sachin Tendulkar while trying to drive. Then Chopra was run out due to a terrible mix-up with Ganguly, which left Kolkata at a dismal 16 for two after three overs.

Pollock then dealt two huge blows by sending back in-form batsman David Hussey and Mohammed Hafeez, both undone by rising deliveries.

Australia's Hussey edged an intended drive to wicketkeeper Yogesh Takawale while Hafeez, without getting his eye in, tried an injudicious drive to a rising delivery from Pollock and the high edge was taken well by second slip fielder Robin Uthappa.

Pollock's deadly spell read 4-0-12-3 and he had ripped the heart from the visiting team's batting. It was a repeat of his splendid display that rocked Chennai Super Kings two nights ago before they were rescued by S Badrinath and captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni .

Bravo struck a blow when he induced Wriddhiman Saha to edge to Tendulkar a defensive prod and Kolkata were left gasping at 29 for five.

Seeing the visiting team in disarray, Tendulkar brought into action his second-string pace attack and it paid rich dividends when Rohan Raje, who replaced Bravo after the latter's two-over spell, clean bowled all-rounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla when he shaped to clip the ball off his toes.

Ganguly watched grimly from the other end as the mayhem continued and started to assert himself in the company of Ajit Agarkar, who slammed Raje for two fours in one over to bring some cheer to the struggling visitors' ranks.

At the half-way mark Kolkata were 44 for six with very little batting left to bail them out of the deep hole.

The seventh wicket duo added 19 runs, the highest for the innings thus far, when Ganguly was caught behind trying to guide medium pacer Dominic Thornely towards the third man region and wicketkeeper Takawale took a juggling catch at the second attempt.

Once Ganguly was gone, the rest folded up meekly.

Tendulkar took four catches, which is highest by a fielder in an innings in the IPL.