Brendon McCullum and Mahela Jayawardene hit robust half-centuries as Kochi Tuskers Kerala posted an eight-wicket win over Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday.
Skipper Tendulkar hammered an unbeaten 100 off just 66 balls for his maiden IPL hundred to help his side reach 182-2 before Kochi achieved the stiff target with six balls to spare for their first win in three matches.
New Zealander McCullum cracked a 60-ball 81 while Sri Lankan Mahela Jayawardene hit 56 off 36 balls before being yorked by compatriot Lasith Malinga, but not before the pair had put on 128 for the opening wicket.
McCullum hit two sixes and 10 fours and Jayawardene nine fours.
Ravindra Jadeja (25 not out) finished the match with two successive sixes off left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza as Mumbai suffered their first defeat in three games. Tendulkar, needing 10 runs off the last four deliveries of the innings to complete the century on his home ground in Mumbai, hit two fours and took two singles off seamer Vinay Kumar.
The Mumbai captain, who smashed three sixes and 12 fours, added 116 for the second wicket with Ambati Rayudu, who hit four sixes in a 33-ball 53.
In another match in Jaipur, Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir hit impressive half-centuries to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a nine-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals.
South African Kallis top-scored with a 65-ball 80 not out while skipper Gambhir made an unbeaten 75 off 44 balls as Kolkata achieved a 160-run target with nine deliveries to spare for their second win in three matches.
The pair added 152 for the unfinished second-wicket stand to ensure an easy victory for their team. It was the first defeat in three matches for Rajasthan.
Kolkata spinners Yusuf Pathan (2-4) and Shakib Al Hasan (2-31) shared four wickets to restrict Rajasthan despite a 25-ball 35 not out by New Zealander Ross Taylor.
A dejected looking Tendulkar speaking after the match said, “I thought we had scored enough to defend, McCullum and Jayawardene played really well. They played some big shots and also some sensible cricket.
“Credit to them, I don’t want to say dew was the excuse. There were a few catches dropped and it cost us the game. It is not that easy to go out everyday and come out as a winner.
“Their fielding was better than ours. I’m quite alright, ready to go for another 40 overs now.” A jubilant Mahela Jayawardene speaking about his sides first triumph said, “Yeah it was a great chase, we needed that. We needed to clinically finish games and we did that. Brilliant innings from Sachin but our guys did really well.
“Brendon batted really well, it is one of his best knocks that I have seen. We have to take calculated risks against certain bowlers which we did and Brendon takes those risks, when it pays off, it looks really good. There are certain areas where we can really improve. It is a good combination of players that we have got.”
A pumped up McCullum speaking about his knock said, “We were hopeful that the wicket will get easy with a bit of dew and we played well.
“I can’t normally control myself, that’s how I play, I try and bat as instinctively as possible. It was a really good wicket, they had a good bowling attack and things unfolded well.”
