Mumbai needed to put their early loss to Pune behind them, and a quick fire 54-ball 84 from Rohit Sharma helped them do just that, as they beat Kolkata by six wickets in the Indian T20 tournament at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first, but Kolkata's top order - in Gautam Gambhir and Manish Pandey - added a 100-run stand for the second wicket to hand their side the early advantage. Mumbai compounded their woes by a dismal fielding display. Gambhir - who scored a solid 64 from 52 balls - was dropped by Sharma and Jaspreet Bumrah.

Impressive batting and poor fielding helped Kolkata post an impressive 187 in their 20 overs. Mumbai required a solid start, to register their first win of the tournament and Sharma and Parthiv Patel provided that, with a 53-run opening stand. Sharma made his intentions clear from the onset as he flicked Andre Russell for a six over square leg in the first over itself. Patel followed his cue and hit three fours in the two overs that followed. The early fireworks helped Mumbai reach 50 in the fifth over.

It was just the start they needed, but Patel was run out in the sixth over for 23. Kolkata looked to wrestle advantage and conceded just one boundary in the next four overs. Hardik Pandya attempted to switch gears in a bid to lift the run rate, but he holed out to long off for just ten.

It was then that Mumbai caught Kolkata off guard, as Mitchell McClenaghan entered the fray, instead of the hard hitting Jos Buttler. McClenaghan muscled Piyush Chawla for two sixes in the first three balls he faced and then slog swept Kuldeep Yadav over midwicket for another an over later. McClenaghan fell in the same over for 20, but his onslaught had reduced the deficit to 66 from 36 balls.

Buttler - who failed in the first match against Pune, attacked from the start and hit Brad Hogg for a massive six in the 15th over and then tore into Russell, in the 16th, clubbing him for two sixes and a four. The fiery display reduced the margin to a manageable 31 from 24 balls.

Sharma, unbeaten on 67 at the end of the 18th over, then hit Russell for four fours to leave Mumbai with just one to get from the last over. In all, Sharma had hit ten fours and two sixes in his match-winning knock.

"It's a high-scoring ground anyway. We have played enough cricket to that. They got 10-15 runs extra but we held them up pretty tight in the end. They were up for that 200 mark, our bowlers pulled it back well," Sharma said.

"Ricky's idea (McClenghan's promotion), he was in the dug-out and the left-hander was sent out with legspinners bowling, Mitch being a power-hitter we wanted to use that. We started well with the ball, our fielding needs to improve a little bit. We have seen Buttler play those kind of innings again and again for England. it was my duty, responsibility to bat till the end."