ROHIT Sharma belted a last ball six to lift Mumbai Indians to a dramatic seven-wicket win over Pune Warriors while Kerala Kochi Tuskers successfully defended a small total to beat Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League yesterday.
At Wankhede Stadium, Munaf Patel (3-8) led the Mumbai bowlers as they bundled out Pune for a paltry 118 in just 17.2 overs.
IPL debutants Pune got off to a poor start after opting to bat first and were reduced to 17 for four and they never recovered despite a valiant effort from Robin Uthappa (45).
The home team appeared to be coasting to victory but Sachin Tendulkar’s batsmen inexplicably lost their momentum and needed all 20 overs to grab victory.
A second wicket stand of 74 between skipper Tendulkar (35) and Ambati Rayudu (37) built the base while Andrew Symonds and Sharma applied the finishing touches with an unbroken 35-run partnership for the fourth.
At Eden Gardens, Kerala, captained by Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene, notched up their third win after defeating Kolkata Knight Riders by six runs.
Kolkata restricted their opponents to 132 for seven after opting to field first with spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Yusuf Pathan picking up three wickets apiece.
But they faltered in their chase and lost wickets at regular intervals in the face of some inspired bowling and fielding from Kochi Tuskers and ultimately fell short by six runs.
After yesterday’s matches, the Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians and Kochi Tuskers were all tied at the top of the table with six points. Kolkata lead standings on net run rate.
