KOLKATA—Embattled West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine went surprisingly wicket-less but his Kolkata Knight Riders still managed to overcome Kieron Pollard’s Mumbai Indians by seven wickets in the opening contest of the new Indian Premier League season yesterday.
Playing at Eden Gardens, Mumbai rallied to 168 for three off their 20 overs, after being sent in and the hosts cruised to their target with nine deliveries remaining.
Opener Gautam Gambhir top scored with 57 while Suryakumar Yadav slammed an unbeaten 46 off 20 deliveries with five sixes and a four.
Manish Pandey chipped in with 40 from 24 balls.
Earlier, opener Rohit Sharma stroked an unbeaten 98 off 65 balls with 12 fours and four sixes, to rescue Mumbai from a shaky position of 37 for three in the sixth over.
He put on 131 in an unbroken fourth wicket stand with New Zealander Corey Anderson who struck 55 not out off 41 balls.
Narine, under fire over his action and forced to undergo an Indian Cricket Board-sanctioned biomechanical test last week in order to be eligible for the IPL, sent down four overs for 28 runs.
His West Indies counterpart, all-rounder Andre Russell, bowled three overs of medium pace for 21 runs.
Pollard did not bat in the Mumbai innings.