Kolkata, April 29: The local DJ played Freddie Mercury’s We Will We Will Rock You. Shah Rukh Khan was in the stands to lead the Knight Riders charge. Kolkata was rocking all evening and expectations of an easy win were in the air.

However, a 39-year-old Sri Lankan had other ideas. With his spin bowling and some invaluable inputs in the field, man-of-the-match Sanath Jayasuriya (3/14 in four overs) set it up for the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League match at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday. Dwayne Bravo (64 not out, 53b, 8x4, 1x6) and Robin Uthappa (37 not out, 37b) put the icing on the cake with an unfinished 113-run fourth wicket stand to see their side rise from the ashes.

Mumbai Indians restricted Knight Riders to 137/8 in 20 overs and then cantered home with eight balls to spare for their first win in the league. The hosts sniffed a chance after they picked three quick wickets to peg back the visitors to 25/3 at one stage. Ishant Sharma (1/33), Ajit Agarkar (1/23) and especially Ashok Dinda (1/12) were bowling well at that stage. But Debabrata Das dropped a dolly at backward point with the score reading 38/3. Uthappa was on five then. He made the Knights pay for that mistake.

Indeed, the Mumbai Indians showed character on the night. On the heels of Harbhajan Singh-related controversy, it would have been easy for them to throw in the towel. They came here with nothing in their kitty. Sachin Tendulkar was unfit once again. But their never say die spirit prevailed. They are on the board now with their first win in five matches, Riders stay on 4.

Earlier, Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat on a good Eden Gardens wicket. The pitch was the cynosure of all eyes after it took centrestage for wrong reasons in the last match. A Daljit Singh-led unit resurrected things considerably and a sporting wicket was on offer.

Sourav Ganguly (4) started off with a mistimed pull that earned him a boundary. But his luck ran out in the very next ball as he flashed outside off stump to give his counterpart Shaun Pollock (2/27) his first wicket. Sanath Jayasuriya took the catch at first slip.

Then came the anticlimax. An 80,000-strong Eden crowd expected fireworks from Brendon McCullum (1). But Pollock made one to jag back sharply off the wicket and caught the Kiwi plumb in front. The Mumbai Indians captain set the tone in the first over with a couple of wickets and the pattern was followed throughout.

Young Debabrata Das (29, 20b, 5x4, 1x6), who replaced Wriddhiman Saha in the XI, played a cameo and for a while took the attack to the opposition. He added 34 runs for the fourth wicket with Ricky Ponting (19, 31b). The 21-year-old Bengal lad was elegant off his pads and very severe when width was offered outside the off stump. A flick over midwicket for six off Pollock stood out. But he must kick himself as he slashed a half-tracker straight to Robin Uthappa at cover-point. Dwayne Bravo (1/25) was the bowler.

All this while Ponting was happy to play the second fiddle giving strike to his junior partner. With David Hussey (17) too, he played the role of an anchor. Hussey got a start but the wily Jayasuriya held one back a little and beat the Aussie in the air. Birthday boy Ashish Nehra at long on took the skier.

After that it was all Jayasuriya. He picked up two more wickets as the Knight Riders quickly subsided to 90/7.

Ponting’s run out during that period tilted the balance heavily in favour of the Indians. That the Australia captain was struggling to get back to form was evident from his innings. Ponting’s IPL campaign ended when he was sent back by Mohammad Hafeez (2) from the point of no return.

A late burst by Laxmi Ratan Shukla (40 not out, 22 balls) gave total some respectability but on this wicket, 138, at an asking rate of 6.90 was not enough.

The form Shukla is in, he deserved a promotion in the batting order ahead of his some more illustrious teammates.