CAPE TOWN: Man-of-the-Match Azhar Mahmood’s all-round effort of 3-16 with the ball and an unbeaten 51 from 42 balls with the bat helped qualifiers Auckland Aces beat Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets and with 2.2 overs to spare in the Champions League T20 here on Monday.
As a result, KKR’s chances of making the semifinals of the tournament suffered a major blow as they are rock bottom in their group.
KKR captain Gautam Gambhir’s decision to induct Shakib Al Hasan at the expense of seasoned Brett Lee backfired badly as the reigning IPL champions missed out a genuine paceman on a pitch that was assisting the faster bowlers.
Apart from Mahmood, Lou Vincent (30), Martin Guptill (25) and Anaru Kitchen (24) also came up with useful contributions.
Brendon McCullum top-scored for the Knight Riders with a 35-ball 40, which was laced with two sixes and three fours. But KKR could not build partnerships and lost wickets at regular intervals.
Mahmood made inroads into KKR’s middle-order with his twin strike in the 10th over as he dismissed Jacques Kallis (0) and Manoj Tiwary (0) in successive deliveries to dent the Knight Riders’ innings, who after the early loss of Gautam Gambhir had tried to recover.
Mahmood, in his second spell, removed dangerman McCullum to add to the misery of KKR, who came into this match after being crushed by Delhi Daredevils by 52 runs on Saturday.
Mahmood was ably supported by Kyle Mills, Michael Bates and Ronnie Hira, who picked up a wicket apiece.
“We bowled really well as a unit. We prepared really well, two weeks before the tournament and it’s paid off. Martin Guptill and Louie [Vincent] started off really well and I was able to finish off,” Mahmood said after the match.
Losing captain Gambhir said, “Once you get the momentum you’ve got to continue. How they played in the first over gave them momentum. We need to play smart cricket, better cricket.”
KKR have two games left. (PTI)