Gautam Gambhir may have failed again with the bat in this edition of the Oppo Champions League T-20 tournament, but he can take pride in guiding Kolkata Knight Riders into the final with an emphatic, seven-wicket win over Hobart Hurricanes under lights at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium.
Chasing a modest target of 141, KKR lost captain Gambhir and his opening partner Robin Uthappa cheaply. It was the experience of Jacques Kallis and the flamboyance of Manish Pandey, which was good enough to thwart any hopes Hurricanes might have had of storming back into the game.
Pandey was once again in a belligerent mood treating the bowlers with disdain and in a way pushed the rivals on the defensive in quick time on a perfect batting strip. When he departed, it was the turn of Kallis to hold one end up and ensure that KKR romped home.
Earlier, Shoaib Malik’s brilliant, controlled aggression saw Hobart Hurricanes post a respectable 140 for six as the former Pakistan captain looked the only batsman, other than opener Ben Dunk, to be comfortable against the spin-oriented KKR attack.
Malik picked the highly rated left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav for special treatment, scoring 21 runs including two fours and two sixes in his fourth and the innings’ 19th over.
The others once again found the KKR spinners too good to handle even though Piyush Chawla, who was also roughly treated by Malik, was the most expensive of all. As was the feature right through this edition, the slow bowlers struck at regular intervals with Yusuf Pathan definitely lucky to get an LBW verdict against the dangerous Aiden Blizzard (0) as television replays showed an inside edge as he went back to one that straightened off the pitch. This happened right after a brilliant return catch by Andre Russell saw opener Dominic Michael dismissed for a duck.
The scores:
Hobart Hurricanes innings:
Ben Dunk c Gambhir b Kuldeep 39 (29b, 4 x 4, 1 x 6), Dominic Michael c & b Russell 0 (6b), Aiden Blizzard lbw b Pathan 0 (1b), Shoaib Malik not out 66 (46b, 4 x 4, 4 x 6), Travis Birt c ten Doeschate b Narine 13 (23b), Jonathan Wells b Chawla 3 (6b), Evan Gulbis run out (Pandey) 15 (8b, 2 x 4), Ben Hilfenhaus not out 0 (1lb).
Extras: (b-1, w-1, w-2) 4
Total: (for six wickets in 20 overs) 140.
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Michael), 2-13 (Blizzard), 3-46 (Dunk), 4-77 (Birt), 5-91 (Wells), 6-134 (Gilbis),
Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Yusuf Pathan 4-0-24-1, Andre Russell 4-0-24-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-24-1, Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-31-1, Piyush Chawla 4-0-35-1.
Kolkata Knight Riders innings:
Robin Uthappa b Doherty 17 (21b, 3 x 4), Gautam Gambhir c Wells b Bollinger 4 (11b), Jacques Kallis not out 54 (40b, 4 x 4, 1 x 6), Manish Pandey c Malik b Laughlin 40 (32b, 6 x 4, 1 x 6), Yusuf Pathan not out 14 (13b, 1 x 4).
Extras: (nb-2, w-10) 12.
Total: (for three wickets in 19.1 overs) 141.
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Gambhir), 2-44 (Uthappa), 3-107 (Pandey).
Hobart Hurricanes bowling: Ben Hilfenhaus 4-0-28-0, Doug Bollinger 3.1-0-26-1, Xavier Doherty 4-0-28-1, Evan Gulbis 4-0-23-0, Ben Laughlin 4-0-36-1.
Man of the match: Jacques Kallis.
Toss: Hobart Hurricanes.
