A commanding performance with the bat saw the Kochi Tuskers Kerala notch up 178 for 7 on a small ground in Indore. It was the stadium's debut as an IPL host and it passed the test as far as entertainment goes. The pitch had a hint of grass and the ball came on to the bat well.
Mahela Jayawardene, who shared in a 93-run first-wicket stand with Brendon McCullum, played a fluent, bruising knock. He alternated effortlessly between elegant flicks, casual lofted strokes and crunching blows and was the engine that propelled the Kochi ship.
Punjab's bowlers were indisciplined and sent down 19 wides. Ryan Harris was the first to struggle with control. He sent down two leg-side wides in his first over and persisted in bowling on the pads, much to Jayawardene's liking. Bhargav Bhatt was better, bowling a tighter line and was more difficult to take on. But the quick outfield and small boundaries meant that the deliveries did not necessarily have to bad to be hit over the fence. Jayawardene and McCullum sunk into the flighted and short balls, and even hit some of the decent balls into the crowd.
McCullum fell to Bipul Sharma, trapped lbw while attempting the sweep shot, but Jayawardene was unmoved by the loss of his partner. With Ravindra Jadeja, he took Kochi to 103 for 1 at the halfway stage. Jadeja smacked one gorgeous six off Piyush Chawla before the legspinner had him out lbw. The runs slowed a little after that.
The third fifty took 44 balls to come, during which Jadeja and Brad Hodge were out, and Jayawardene had to rein himself in a little. He formed another damaging partnership with Owais Shah, who had his first outing in the IPL this season. Shah hit an entertaining 23 off 11 balls before being run-out after struggling to hear the call from Jayawardene, who was himself run out off the last ball. A flurry of wickets at the end and a last over filled with yorkers from Harris, pegged Kochi back and kept them from striding over the 200 mark.
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