Mumbai Indians shrugged off the loss of off-spinner Harbhajan Singh to claim their maiden Indian Premier League win against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Just 24 hours after Harbhajan was ruled out of the remainder of the IPL by an 11-match ban handed down for slapping India team-mate Sreesanth in Friday's encounter with Kings XI Punjab, the Indians posted a seven-wicket win to kick-start their campaign.
West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo shone for the Indians with an unbeaten knock of 64 from 53 balls - the first individual half-century for the franchise in five IPL outings.
The Knight Riders' total of 137 for eight never looked like it would be sufficient after Sanath Jayasuriya ran roughshod through the hosts' order with a tournament-best three for 14 from four overs.
Bravo and Robin Uthappa duly took the visitors beyond their victory target in 18.4 overs with an unbeaten 113-run fourth-wicket partnership.
The hosts made a miserable start to their innings and found themselves two wickets down inside the first over.
Captain Sourav Ganguly fell for just four runs, caught by Jayasuriya at first slip off the bowling of Shaun Pollock, who was skippering the Indians in the absence of the injured Sachin Tendulkar and the disgraced Harbhajan.
The third-choice captain was clearly thriving in his new role and struck again to remove Brendon McCullum just two balls later, the opener trapped lbw on his final appearance before he joins up with the New Zealand squad in England.
Debabrata Das joined Ricky Ponting in the middle and the pair put on 34 runs before the former's brisk 29 from 20 deliveries was brought to an end when he lofted Bravo's delivery to Uthappa at point.
Ponting, himself contesting his final IPL game before linking up with Australia, hit 19 before he was run out, while David Hussey (17) and Mohammad Hafeez (two) both fell to Jayasuriya in the 14th over to leave Kolkata wobbling on 77 for six.
Laxmi Ratan Shukla brought some semblance of respectability to the hosts' total as he hit two sixes and four fours on his way to an unbeaten 40, but he ran out of overs before he had chance to set the Indians a truly challenging victory target.
The Indians' response got off to a stuttering start when Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for four in the third over, Hussey taking the catch at mid on off the bowling of Ajit Agarkar.
Jayasuriya added 18 runs before he was bowled by Ishant Sharma while home hopes were raised further when Manish Pandey edged Ashok Dinda's delivery onto his stumps having failed to trouble the scorers.
But the quality of Bravo and Uthappa ensured the visitors claimed their first points of the inaugural IPL campaign as the pair dug in to frustrate the home attack.
Bravo hit nine boundaries on his way to a long-overdue first fifty for the hosts, while Uthappa survived being dropped on five by Das as he compiled a run-a-ball 37 before his strike partner hit the winnings runs with eight balls to spare.
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