A brilliant half-century from Deccan Chargers captain Adam Gilchrist wasn't enough to help his team avoid an 11-run loss to the Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening match of the 2010 Indian Premier League in Mumbai on Saturday morning.
Gilchrist clobbered 54 off only 35 deliveries, including three boundaries and three sixes, to leave the Chargers well in control of the chase after being set 162 for victory.
But their opponents scripted a remarkable turnaround to restrict the Chargers to 7-150.
Angelo Mathews and Owais Shah set up the victory when they cracked unbeaten half-centuries to ensure the Knight Riders kicked off their campaign in ideal fashion against the reigning champions.
Mathews hit 65 and Shah 58 as the Knight Riders, who finished bottom of the table in the last edition, recovered from a poor start to finish with a respectable 4-161.
The Chargers began in sensational fashion when Chaminda Vaas, who last played a Twenty20 international in September 2007, sent down a rare double-wicket maiden in his first over with the new ball.
Vaas removed opener Manoj Tiwary with his first delivery and snared Knight Riders captain Sourav Ganguly later in the over for a three-ball duck.
The Knight Riders plunged further into trouble, losing Cheteshwar Pujara (10) and opener Brad Hodge (13) inside the powerplay and were stuttering at 4-31 when Mathews and Shah strode to their rescue.
Mathews began his innings with a belligerent six over keeper Gilchrist's head off the first ball he faced and smacked three more along with five boundaries in the course of his unbeaten stay.
Shah, painfully tedious at the start, opened up by depositing Andrew Symonds for a six over square leg boundary in the 15th over and exploded in a flurry of big shots in the final overs as the Knight Riders swept past the 150-run mark.
The duo amassed 104 runs in the second half of the innings.
Gilchrist was dropped on two in the slip cordon at the start of the Chargers' reply and he then launched into a typically ferocious innings.
Together with VVS Laxman (22), Gilchrist added 61 for the opening wicket when Laxman succumbed to a top-edged slog sweep.
Gilchrist, dropped again on 41, went on to reach his seventh IPL half-century, but the former Australia wicketkeeper was eventually removed by Hodge and the Chargers imploded as Herschelle Gibbs (19), Symonds (five) and Rohit Sharma (13) all fell cheaply.
More wickets tumbled as Chargers fell to 7-142 from 1-99 and eventually pulled up well short.