IPL 2 Game 17: Mumbai Indians Trounce The Knight Riders

More doom is the ominous warning, not only from the Mumbai Indians but also, for the Kolkata Knight Riders if they do not find the wits about them soon.
It was a near picture perfect day for the Mumbai Indians at St. Georges Park, Port Elizabeth. On a better footing this year than in the last year’s IPL, the IPL 2 has shown them in a more spirited mood and it was evident last night in the match against the Shah Rukh Khan’s woeful Knights.
Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya shared the honours at the top of the order for putting up a display of what wealth of talent and experience can do. Their 127 run partnership in less than thirteen overs emphasized the command that the Mumbai Indian openers held over the clueless KKR team.
Such was the overpowering opening partnerships that when the KKR managed to put the brakes on Mumbai’s scoring rate by taking wickets, Mumbai still finished a healthy 187. Laxmi Ratan Shukla had three wickets to his name at the end of the innings, including the prize scalp of Tendulkar. But the damage had been virtually complete and by KKR standards, the target in front of them was colossal.
If the Mumbai Indians’ batting was enthralling, the KKR’s efforts rather bleak and pathetic in contrast. When Sachin Tendulkar went subtly about his business, Sanath played the waiting game. When the Indian maestro finally departed for sixty-eight, the Matada Marauder as Sanath is famously known clobbered the bowling for his half century.
The KKR story has become rather predictable. The openers, Chris Gayle and captain Brendon McCullum, didn’t waste trouble or trouble the scorers too much, departing much too early to make an impact. A half century partnership between Sourav Ganguly (34 runs from 30 balls) and Brad Hodge (24 runs from 22 balls) was the only saving grace, but not the partnership that would have spelt the road to victory.
Thereafter it was a sorry procession as Lasith Malinga, Dwayne Bravo and even Abhishek Nayyar stuck their claws into the KKR batting and decimated their reputation, as KKR shut shop in two balls over fifteen overs with just ninety-five on board, and a whopping ninety-two run victory for the galloping Mumbai Indians.