Knight Riders ride high …

Brendon McCullum added substance to the hype surrounding the inaugural Indian Premier League tournament as he struck the highest individual Twenty20 score to lead the Kolkata Knight Riders to a 140-run opening match victory against the Bangalore Royal Challengers on Friday.

The New Zealand opener went some way to fulfilling his US $700,000 price tag as he smashed 10 fours and 13 sixes to finish unbeaten on 158 from 73 balls, producing 51 and 60-run partnerships with Australian pair Ricky Ponting (20 from 20 balls) and David Hussey (12 from 12 balls), respectively, along the way.

It was an innings unlikely to be matched for the remainder of this 59-game tournament and one to delight the Knight Riders' Bollywood actor owner, Shah Rukh Khan, who watched on as McCullum's one-man assault led his franchise to 3-222.

In reply, the home side never threatened to haul in its victory target as its top eight batsman failed to reach double figures before eventually being bowled out for 82.

But it was McCullum who stole all the headlines on the opening night of this eagerly-anticipated tournament, although the Kiwi right-hander remained modest following his breathtaking innings.

"I don't know what to say, I am absolutely ecstatic to have got a score like that," McCullum said in an interview televised on Setanta 1 after his innings.

"The boundaries are pretty short, but it was nice to hit a couple out of the middle. It was nice to make a contribution like that."

Following a 45-minute opening ceremony, Bangalore captain Rahul Dravid won the toss and elected to field in front of a capacity crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Praveen Kumar's opening over proved anti-climactic with only one run coming from the bat, a mis-timed pull by McCullum from the final ball.

But the New Zealander was quickly into his stride belting four consecutive boundaries from Zaheer Khan's next over, including a fortuitous top edge over third man.

Subdued performances from Sourav Ganguly (10 from 12 balls) and Ponting failed to slow McCullum who combined power-hitting with invention to render the home fielders irrelevant.

The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman breezed past Victorian skipper Cameron White's previous highest Twenty20 mark of 141 with a contrived lap-sweep over the wicketkeeper's head, before finishing the innings with three sixes from the final over.

The home reply began poorly as they lost the early wickets of Rahul Dravid (two) and Virat Kohli (one) before Jacques Kallis struck the first boundary of the innings in the fourth over, planting Ajit Agarkar over mid-off.

But the South Africa all-rounder fell next ball, mis-timing a drive to Murali Kartik at mid-on, to usher a steady stream of wickets.

Previous record holder White, who had struck his 141 for county side Somerset during the 2006 English summer, had only been able to look on as McCullum wreaked havoc on the balmy night, bowling one over for 24 runs as compatriot Ashley Noffke had picked up 1-40 from his allotted four overs.

But White barely had a chance to challenge McCullum for the record once more, being caught by WP Saha off Agarkar's bowling for six off ten balls while Noffke was unlucky to be runout for nine from the 10 deliveries he faced as the Challengers rapidly faded.

Bangalore Tailender Kumar (18 not out) was the only Bangalore batsman to reach double figures, but he was left unbeaten when Sunil Joshi was the last man to fall, befittingly caught by McCullum at deep point to complete the comfortable win.

The tournament continues with two matches on Saturday when the Kings XI Punjab host the Chennai Super Kings in Mohali before the Rajasthan Royals' trip to the Delhi Daredevils.

Indian Premier League

Kolkata Knight Riders innings

Ganguly c Kallis b Khan 10 (12)
McCullum not out 158 (73)
Ponting c Kumar b Kallis 20 (20)
Hussey c White b Noffke 12 (12)
Hafeez not out 5 (3)
Extras 17 (b 4, lb 4, w 9)
Total 222 (3 wickets; 20.0 overs)

FoW:1-61 (Ganguly, 5.2 ov), 2-112 (Ponting, 12.1 ov), 3-172 (Hussey, 17.1 ov)

Bowling
Kumar 4-0-38-0 (1w)
Khan 4-0-38-1
Noffke 4-0-40-1 (1w)
Kallis 4-0-48-1 (1w)
Joshi 3-0-26-0
White 1-0-24-0 (1w)

Bangalore Royal Challengers innings

Dravid b Sharma 2 (3)
Jaffer c Ponting b Dinda 6 (16)
Kohli b Dinda 1 (5)
Kallis c Kartik b Agarkar 8 (7)
White c Saha b Agarkar 6 (10)
Boucher c Kartik b Ganguly 7 (9)
Akhil c Ponting b Agarkar 0 (2)
Noffke run out (Agarkar / Saha) 9 (10)
Kumar not out 18 (15)
Khan b Ganguly 3 (8)
Joshi c McCullum b Shukla 3 (6)
Extras 19 (lb 8, w 11)
Total 82 (all out; 15.1 overs)

FoW:1-4 (Dravid, 1.1 ov), 2-9 (Kohli, 2.2 ov), 3-24 (Kallis, 4.5 ov), 4-24 (Jaffer, 5.2 ov), 5-38 (Boucher, 7.5 ov), 6-38 (Akhil, 8.2 ov), 7-43 (White, 8.6 ov), 8-57 (Noffke, 11.1 ov), 9-70 (Khan, 13.1 ov), 10-82 (Joshi, 15.1 ov)

Bowling
Dinda 3-0-9-2 (2w)
Sharma 3-0-7-1 (1w)
Agarkar 4-0-25-3 (4w)
Ganguly 4-0-21-2 (1w)
Shukla 1.1-0-12-1 (2w)
Samuels 3-0-24-1