Kolkata Knight Riders' chances of making the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament suffered a major blow as they slumped to their second successive defeat after losing to Auckland Aces by seven wickets in a Group A match on Monday, says a report in The Times Of India, adding that Auckland rode high on veteran Azhar Mahmood's superb all-round show as they knocked off a modest target of 138 runs with 14 balls to spare.
“Mahmood, who was instrumental in restricting KKR to 137 for six with brilliant figures of 3 for 16, also produced an unbeaten knock of 51 runs, which turned out to be crucial in the final outcome of the match at the New Wanderers stadium,” says the report, adding 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.
Meanwhile Hindustan Times reports that Mahmood picked up three important wickets as KKR, coasting at 72 for one in just eight overs were held to just 137/6 in 20 overs in their Champions League T20 match against the Auckland Aces. Mahmood took two wickets in just his first over to peg the Kolkata team back.
“Mahmood produced a beauty to get rid of Jacques Kallis and followed it up with the wicket of Manvinder Bisla. He came back to pick the wicket of top-scorer Brendon McCullum in his second spell. McCullum was looking dangerous. His three wickets for 16 runs were excellent returns considering that the Kolkata team was packed with big hitters and they had a very good start to capitalize on.,” writes HT, adding that while Mahmood was relishing his role with the ball, opposition skipper Gautam Gambhir continued his poor run of form.
“Gambhir tried to turn one from Michael Bates to the onside but the ball took the edge of his bat and flew to Martin Guptill who dived to his left and took it just above the turf.”