BANGALORE, April 18: With the help of Brendon McCullum’s brilliant 158 not out and some excellent bowling, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs in the inaugural Indian Premier League match.

Rahul Dravid’s decision to bowl first backfired as Bangalore Royal Challengers lost wickets at regular interval against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Earlier, Brendon McCullum hit a blazing 73-ball unbeaten knock of 158 to guide Kolkata Knight Riders to a massive 222 against Bangalore Royal Challengers in the lung opener of the Indian Premier League.

McCullum went berserk right from the word go as he hit Zaheer Khan for 18 runs in the second over of the innings after being put in to bat by hosts skipper Rahul Dravid at Chinnaswamy stadium.

The Kiwi player then hit a towering long-off six off Ashley Noffke to bring up the 50 for Knight Riders in just four overs. The wicket-keeper batsman was difficult to contain as he showed no mercy and hit all the bowlers all around the park. McCullum’s scintillating innings was studded with 13 sixes and 10 boundaries.

Zaheer Khan drew the first blood for the hosts when he had Kolkata skipper Sourav Ganguly (10) caught by South African Jaques Kallis in the slip cordon.

But only after Ganguly and McCullum had put on 61 runs for the first wicket to lay a strong foundation for a big total.

McCullum drove Noffke for a couple to get his century, leading to wild celebrations among the team owner Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan and his colleague Arjun Rampal.

Kallis and Noffke bore the brunt of McCullum fury conceding 42 and 48 runs respectively in their quota of four overs.

Earlier, dazzling fireworks lit up the sky in a glittering opening ceremony attended by the top brass of the ICC and the BCCI that kicked off the DLF Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Friday evening.

In a fantastic ceremony before the opener between Bangalore Royal Challengers and the Kolkata Knight Riders, the BCCI patted itself for heralding the start of a new phase in international cricket.

A packed house erupted in excitement as captains of the eight participating teams walked out to sign the MCC’s Spirit of Cricket, under which the entire tournament will be played out.

BCCI President described it as a “historic day” for international cricket and hoped that fans would maintain their interest for the next 44 days, which will see 59 matches. “I am confident that all cricket-loving people will support this new initiative that the BCCI has taken,” he said.

ICC President Ray Mali also congratulated the Indian board for the spectacular arrangement. “You have taken cricket to the next level,” he said.

Later, BCCI vice-President and IPL chairman Lalit Modi declared the tournament open.

Summarised scores:

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS 222 for 3 in 20 overs (Brendon McCullum 158 not out; Zaheer Khan 1-38); BANGALORE ROYAL CHALLENGERS 82 in 15.1 overs (Praveen Kumar 18 not out; Agarkar 3-25, Dinda 2-9, Ganguly 2-21) —Agencies