HYDERABAD, India, CMC – West Indian cricketers played key roles as Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Hobart Hurricanes by seven wickets to advance to the finals of the Champions League T20 tournament yesterday.
Seamer Andre Russell and spinner Sunil Narine grabbed a wicket each at important stages to help put a chokehold on the Hurricanes at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Hurricanes stumbled to 140 for six in 20 overs largely on the strength of an unbeaten half century from Shoaib Malik after winning the toss and electing to bat.
Knight Riders were forced to overcome some stumbling blocks in pursuit of the target before Jacques Kallis and Manish Pandey boosted the innings to help seal their place in the finals with five balls to spare.
Russell made the first breakthrough with a spectacular catch off his own bowling after Dom Michael got a leading edged.
Attacking spinners, Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, bowled one after the other as a watchful Hurricanes crawled to 54 for 3 in 10 overs, their lowest 10-over score of the tournament.
Malik, an outstanding player of spin bowling, top scored with a fighting 66 from 46 balls that included four fours and four sixes.
He scored 21 runs off the 19th over, bowled by Kuldeep Yadav and his only support came from Ben Dunk who slapped 39 from 29 balls, highlighted by four fours and a six.
Knight Riders, on the chase, slid to 44 for two before Kallis and Pandey took charge with solid knocks of 54 not out and 40 respectively, after getting stuck temporarily.
Pandey holed out to long-on in the 16th over, leaving Knight Riders just 34 off 28.
The game was in the balance with 21 required off 13 however Yusuf Pathan scored an important unbeaten 14 which included a four through extra cover as Knight Riders took their winning streak to 14, the joint second-highest in Twenty20 history.
Scoreboard
HOBART HURRICANES innings
B Dunk† c Gambhir b Kuldeep Yadav 39
D Michael c & b Russell 0
A Blizzard lbw b Pathan 0
Shoaib Malik not out 66
T Birt c ten Doeschate b Narine 13
J Wells b Chawla 3
E Gulbis run out (Pandey/†Uthappa) 15
B Hilfenhaus not out 0
Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 2) 4
Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 140
Did not bat XJ Doherty*, B Laughlin, DE Bollinger
Fall of wickets 1-4 (Michael), 2-13 (Blizzard), 3-46 (Dunk), 4-77 (Birt), 5-91 (Wells), 6-135 (Gulbis)
Bowling: Pathan 4-0-24-1,Russell 4-0-24-1, Narine 4-0-24-1, Yadav 4-0-31-1, Chawla 4-0-35-1.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS innings
R Uthappa† b Doherty 17
G Gambhir* c Wells b Bollinger 4
J Kallis not out 54
M Pandey c Shoaib Malik b Laughlin 40
Y Pathan not out 14
Extras (w 10, nb 2) 12
Total (3 wickets; 19.1 overs) 141
Did not bat RN ten Doeschate, SA Yadav, AD Russell, PP Chawla, SP Narine, Kuldeep Yadav
Fall of wickets 1-20 (Gambhir), 2-44 (Uthappa), 3-107 (Pandey)
Bowling: Hilfenhaus 4-0-28-0, Bollinger 3.1-0-26-1,Doherty 4-0-28-1, Gulbis 4-0-23-0, Laughlin 4-0-36-1.
Toss – Hobart Hurricanes, who chose to bat
Series – Kolkata Knight Riders advanced
Player of the match – JH Kallis (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Umpires – S Ravi and Rod Tucker (Australia)
TV umpire – Vineet Kulkarni
