The Knight with an iron bat!

IPL opens with McCullum's record breaking 158 of just 73 balls

A spectacular and innovative opening ceremony was the launch pad for an extraordinary display of pyrotechnics from the New Zealander, Brendon McCullum, whose undefeated 158 set a new record for Twenty20 cricket. The home team, Bangalore Royal Challengers, was thumped by the Kolkata Knight Riders, but the 40,000 people in the stadium couldn't complain about the rich entertainment on offer. Even Vijay Mallya would have enjoyed it.

The man who cost Bollywood legend and Knight Riders owner Shah Rukh Khan $US700,000 for his services, went a long way towards justifying his expense in just one innings, striking 10 fours and 13 sixes in the 73-ball assault, a collection that included a shovel shot over the wicket- keeper's head and a miscue into the crowd at third man.

After this Knight’s assault, the result was utterly inevitable. It was also irrelevant. The impact of this event will be felt far and wide. Even in Blighty. Bangalore, India's silicon valley, is home to numerous call centres for British companies. But all the employees were at the cricket last night. So if you couldn't get through to Network Rail inquiries, now you know why. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

The scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders: S. Ganguly c Kallis b Zaheer 10, B. McCullum (not out) 158, R. Ponting c Praveen b Kallis 20, D. Hussey c White b Noffke 12, Md. Hafeez (not out) 5; Extras: (b-4, lb-4, w-9) 17; Total: (for three in 20 overs) 222.

Fall of wickets: 1-61, 2-112, 3-174.

Royal Challengers Bangalore bowling: Praveen 4-0-38-0, Zaheer 4-0-38-1, Noffke 4-0-40-1, Kallis 4-0-48-1, Joshi 3-0-26-0, White 1-0-24-0.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: R. Dravid b Ishant 2, W. Jaffer c Ponting b A. Dinda 6, V. Kohli b Dinda 1, J. Kallis c M. Kartik b Agarkar 8, C. White c Saha b Agarkar 6, M. Boucher c Kartik b Ganguly 7, B. Akhil c Ponting b Agarkar 0, A. Noffke (run out) 9, Praveen (not out) 18, Zaheer b Ganguly 3, S. Joshi c McCullum b Shukla 3; Extras: (lb-8, w-11) 19; Total: (in 15.1 overs) 82.

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-9, 3-24, 4-24, 5-38, 6-38, 7-43, 8-57, 9-70.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Dinda 3-0-9-2, Ishant 3-0-7-1, Agarkar 4-0-25-3, Ganguly 4-0-21-2, Shukla 1.1-0-12-1.