Kolkata’s semifinal hopes dashed
by Jason Humphries 17 October 2012, 19:20
Rain spelt the end of the Kolkata Knight Rider’s Karbonn Smart Champions League Twenty20 semifinal hopes after their match against the Perth Scorchers ended in a no-result at Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday.
Full Scorecard: Kolkata Knight Riders v Perth Scorchers
The Scorchers had made their way to 91 for two after 14 overs before heavy rain began falling over the ground.
Both teams had to settle for two points apiece which means that Kolkata have just two points from three matches after losing their first two games.
The Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League champions, have just one more league match, against the Titans in Cape Town on October 21, and even a win would only move Kolkata to six points.
The Titans already have eight points while Delhi and Auckland both have four points with Delhi having only played one match and Auckland two. The two teams will play each other in Durban on Friday and the winner of that match will move to eight points.
Perth move to two points after two games and their semi-final hopes are also very much in doubt.
Simon Katich and Shaun Marsh had provided the bulk of the Scorchers’ runs thanks to a 70-run second-wicket partnership with Marsh scoring 38 before being trapped leg-before by Jacques Kallis.
Katich was not out on 43 off just 32 balls when the rain began falling while Mitchell Marsh was unbeaten on five.
Kolkata had won the toss and elected to field and they tasted almost immediate success when Herschelle Gibbs slapped a short ball from Brett Lee to Iqbal Abdulla in the covers.
Lee finished with figures of 1-11 off two overs while Kallis had 1-24 off three overs.
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KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS – Brendon McCullum, Jacques Kallis, Gautam Gambhir (capt), Manvinder Bisla (wk), Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Brett Lee Debabrata Das, Iqbal Abdulla, Sunil Narine, Lakshmipathy Balaji
PERTH SCORCHERS – Herschelle Gibbs, Shaun Marsh, Marcus North (capt), Simon Katich, Mitchell Marsh, Luke Ronchi (wk), Nathan Rimmington, Joe Mennie, Brad Hogg, Michael Beer, Nathan Coulter-Nile.
