<h1>IPL 8 News Point : Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav Drive #KKR</h1>
Gautam Gambhir hit 57 while Suryakumar Yadav scored 46 not out as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Mumbai Indians by 7 wickets in the Indian Premier League opener.
Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders propelled their title guard on an immaculate note as captain Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav drove them to a seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians in the IPL-8 T20 cricket competition opener here on Wednesday.
Put in, the guests lost two wickets in three balls and looked unstable 37/3 after a searing spell from Morne Morkel (2/18) however Sharma, who had struck an ODI world record 264 here in November a year ago, was again in his component.
Sharma dismembered the field with polish and picked Indian speedster Umesh Yadav as his bunny on the way to his 22nd IPL half-century.
Sharma's 98 not out originated from 65 balls studded with 12 limits and four sixes and was capably upheld by New Zealand allrounder Corey Anderson, who stayed unbeaten on 55 from 41 balls (4x4, 3x6) in a 131-run undefeated organization.
After all the hoopla encompassing his activity, Knight Riders trump card spinner Sunil Narine did not look in his regular self and returned wicketless with 28 runs from his four overs.
The West Indian looked under weight and the umpire was seen conversing with him amid his second spell.
Narine started with a widish full hurl and the Mumbai captain was speedy to rebuff it for a simple limit.
Sharma had before made his plan clear hitting Yadav for three limits in the third over.
The star Indian opener was getting it done when he crushed three fours and one six as Yadav released 21 runs in the fifteenth over.
It gave the abundantly required impulse to MI run-rate that went under six after the three speedy wickets and some sharp captaincy by Gautam Gambhir.
While Yadav was costly, Morkel was the pick of the parcel and Gambhir made the South African speedster gone through his portion of four overs from the High Court end.
Morkel rejected Mumbai Indians star enlisted person Aaron Finch (5) inexpensively when the Australian World Cup winning opener top-edged one to profound square leg and gave a second achievement in Ambati Rayudu (0) in his penultimate over.
In the middle of, Gambhir astutely acquired Shakib Al Hasan who foxed Aditya Tare (7) with his flight as the Mumbai wicketkeeper ventured out yet just to confound it to long off.
Andre Russell dropped Corey Anderson on 23, a regulation catch at mid-on, while low maintenance wicketkeeper Robin Uthappa missed an outside edge of Sharma as well as missed a puzzling when the Mumbai Indians captain was on 70.