Cricket: New gold dream as cricket hits the jackpot; CRICKET: DRAMA AT HOME AND IN INDIA BRENDON'S BLITZ GIVES IPL A SPECTACULAR START.

Byline: BY MIKE WALTERS

ALL the dancing girls, search lights and acrobats were nearer Broadway than Bangalore as the curtain went up on cricket's great cash-and-curry last night.

In the streets outside, scuffles broke out among fans desperate for a glimpse of the most glamorous team ever to set foot on Indian soil. And that was just the Washington Redskins cheerleaders.

But the firework display which marked the start of the all-singing, all-dancing, allslogging Indian Premier League last night was upstaged by Brendon McCullum's pyrotechnics when the Kiwi six-maniac launched an incredible onslaught.

He smashed an amazing 158, including 13 sixes, for the Kolkata Knight Riders as they beat the Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs.

To put McCullum's breathtaking onslaught in context, the highest Twenty20 international innings to date has been West Indian opener Chris Gayle's 117 against South Africa last winter.

It was Gayle who teased England batsman Kevin Pietersen about the phenomenal riches on offer at the IPL by sending him text messages containing only dollar signs. But McCullum's extraordinary opening statement suggests the EUR1billion bonanza which will unfold with 59 matches in the next 44 days in eight cities will push scoring rates through the roof.

His assault provided the lion's share of Kolkata's 222-3, and left South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis (0-48) nursing bowling figures like a ransom note.

And it proved that the days of slowcoaches Geoff Boycott, Chris Tavare or Mike Atherton blocking the living daylights out of a whole day's play belong in cricket's Jurassic Park era. Welcome to the IPL, where the Knight Riders wear gold helmets and spectators need tin helmets as protection from the fusillade of sixes.

CAPTION(S):

GOLDEN ERA Team owner Shahrukh Khan at the launch of the Kolkota franchise