Rohit Sharma helps Mumbai pip Kolkata

Mumbai's captain, Rohit Sharma, hit ten boundaries en route to a 49-ball 68 to help his side comfortably crush Kolkata by six wickets in their Indian Twenty20 competition encounter played in Mumbai on Thursday.

Sharma won the toss and put Kolkata in to bat first, but Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa made Mumbai's bowlers toil by adding 59 runs in the first power play. Mumbai compounded their own woes as Mitchell McClenaghan dropped Gambhir in the second over of the match off his own bowling.

Gambhir made Mumbai pay and top scored with a 45-ball 59. The opening stand was finally broken in the eighth over, for 69, as Uthappa departed. Kolkata's middle order found it difficult to score freely on the Mumbai track and a combined effort helped them post 174 in their innings.

The hosts were off to a horror start with the bat and lost opener, Parthiv Patel, in the second over for one. Sharma and Ambati Rayadu then dropped anchor and began rebuilding the innings. The duo added 59 runs in 5.4 overs they batted together, before Rayadu fell.

Sharma, who fell for zero in the last match against Punjab, looked good and struck his fourth 50 off four chases this season. His fifty came off just 36 balls and included two sixes and five fours. Mumbai, by the 13th over had lost three wickets and still required 69 runs from 42 balls to win.

Kieron Pollard, who moved cautiously in the field because of the knee injury that kept him out of the World T20, looked comfortable with the bat in hand. He smashed six sixes and two fours to erase the deficit with 12 balls to spare.

"It was a good game and we wanted this win badly," Sharma said. "We stuck to our plans though we dropped a lot of catches. We batted brilliantly. Pollard's form was crucial and he is peaking at the right time. This is going to be our last game here. The support has been superb here. I want to thank the crowd. Mumbai always enjoy perfect cricket. They have been wanting to see Pollard fire. I don't know what's our home venue. We will have to understand the conditions and adapt as soon as possible."