Champions League T20 2012: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Auckland Aces - As it happened...

Updates by Suyash Srivastava Follow Suyash Srivastava here on twitter: @Syu4u» Scorecard» | Match Report» Brief Summary Azhar Mahmood continued his good all-round show as he single-handedly deflated the Indian Premier League champions Kolkata Knight Riders who lost their second consecutive match. Mahmood first scalped the big wickets of Kallis, Tiwary and McCullum and then played a match-winning knock of 51 runs from 42 balls. He was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his stupendous effort! Auckland Aces innings Over 17.4 || Score 139/3 Seven needed from three overs, Sangwan to continue. Mahmood works the first ball for a single. Grandhomme works the next ball to square leg for a couple. Grandhomme takes a single. Mahmood is on 47 and on strike. Sangwan pitches a short ball and the in-form Azhar Mahmood pulls that for a boundary at deep square leg! Auckland Aces defeat Kokata Knight Riders by 7 wickets! Azhar Mahmood 51* (42b), Colin de Grandhomme 9* (11b) Over 17 || Score 131/3 Balaji to bowl his final over. Mahmood takes a single off the first ball. Balaji follows it with three dot balls. Grandhomme scores a couple. A dot ball to end the over. ==================================================================================== Over 16 || Score 128/3 21 needed from 5, Sangwan to bowl his second over. Colin de Grandhomme is the new batsman. Two dot balls. Mahmood clobbers the fuller length ball over long off for a Six! Mahmood takes a single. A dot ball. Grandhomme ends the over with a boundary at deep midwicket! Eleven runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 15 || Score 117/3 Narine to bowl his last over. Three singles came off the first three balls. And Narine dismisses Kitchen off the fourth ball that went straight after pitching. Good innings from Kitchen. Three runs from the over. A Kitchen lbw b Narine 24(15) ==================================================================================== Over 14 || Score 114/2 Sangwan brought into the attack. Mahmood takes a single off the first ball. Kitchen gets some room and he plays that wonderfully past the point fielder for a boundary! Kitchen follows it with a single. Two dot balls. Mahmood takes a single off the last ball to keep the strike. ==================================================================================== Over 13 || Score 106/2 Narine brought back into the attack. Kitchen gets off-strike with a single. Mahmood plays a good cut shot off the next ball for a boundary! Mahmood takes a single. Kitchen gets a short ball and he pulls that for a boundary at square leg. Kitchen flicks the next ball for a single on the leg-side. Mahmood keeps the strike with a single. Eleven runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 12 || Score 95/2 Kallis to bowl his third over. Just two runs came off the first five balls. Kallis bowled a Yorker off the last ball, Mahmood made some room and guided that to third man for a boundary! Six runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 11 || Score 89/2 Shakib brought into the attack. Three runs came off the first three balls. And then Kitchen shimmies down the track and hits a huge six over the bowler’s head! Nine runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 10 || Score 80/2 Balaji to continue. Mahmood gets a fuller length ball and he smacks that towards deep square leg where Sangwan takes the catch but touches the rope before throwing the ball in. It’s a six! Balaji fires a short ball and Guptill smashes that straight to Narine at long on! Balaji finally has a wicket. Anaru Kitchen is the new batsman. Thirteen runs and a wicket from the over for Balaji. Guptill c Narine b Balaji 25(26b) ==================================================================================== Over 9 || Score 67/1 Shakib to bowl his third over. Guptill charges down the track and goes over the bowler’s head for a boundary! Eight runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 8 || Score 59/1 Balaji is brought back into the attack. Five runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 7 || Score 54/1 Shakib to bowl his second over. Just three runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 6 || Score 51/1 Kallis to continue. He offers some width to Mahmood off a fuller length ball and he smashes that over mid-off for a couple. Guptill nicks one but Pathan at first slips fails to collect that one cleanly, it goes to third man for a boundary! Eight runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 5 || Score 43/1 Narine to continue. Just three runs from the over. Guptill and Mahmood showing a lot of respect for Narine. ==================================================================================== Over 4 || Score 40/1 Kallis is brought into the attack. Just three runs from the over. The last ball swung in and was inches away from the off-stump. Kallis and Guptill had a long chat about that last ball. ==================================================================================== Over 3 || Score 37/1 KKR need wickets and thus Sunil Narine is brought into the attack. He begins with a dot ball. Guptill defends the second ball for no run. Another off-spinner from Narine, Guptill plays it back to Narine for no run. Guptill gets off-strike with a single. Vincent shows no respect for Narine and goes on one knee to dispatch the ball for a boundary at midwicket! Vincent attempts another big shot, but this is Sunil Narine who bowls a quicker one, Vincent hits the ball high in the air and the fielder at square leg takes an easy catch! Good innings from Vincent comes to an end. Azhar Mahmood is the new batsman. Six runs from the over and a wicket straight away for Narine. Vincent c Manoj Tiwary b Narine 30(12b) ==================================================================================== Over 2 || Score 31/2 Shakib to bowl from the other end. Guptill welcomes him with a boundary through covers! Guptill follows it with a single. Vincent smashes another Six towards square leg. Fourteen runs from the over! ==================================================================================== Over 1 || Score 17/0 Lou Vincent and Martin Guptill to open the innings. Balaji will bowl the first over for KKR, he would want to start fresh after he was pummeled for 61 runs in 4 overs. Guptill gets off the mark with a single off the first ball. Vincent taps the next ball back to the bowler for no run. Balaji goes fuller again, in slot for Vincent who makes some room and smacks that over mid-off for a boundary! Balaji follows it with a good Yorker and Vincent works that towards midwicket for a couple. Balaji follows it with one on the pads, Vincent flicks that for a boundary towards square leg. And Balaji doesn’t learn from his mistakes, gies fuller again and this time Vincent shows the full face of the bat as the ball travels over long-on for a Massive Six! 17 from the first over, what a start for the Auckland Aces! ==================================================================================== It was a special innings from Brendon McCullum that helped KKR reach a respectable score. Azhar Mahmood once again proved his worth as a T20 cricketer as he dismissed Kallis, Tiwary and McCullum. A lot will depend on Sunil Narine and KKR would want some early wickets from him. Over 20 || Score 137/6 Bates to bowl the final over. Pathan targets the long-on boundary, doesn’t connect. Bates fires a short ball, Pathan pulls, doesn’t connect well as the ball lands safely at long leg, two runs scored. Bates attempts a Yorker, ends up bowling a low full toss, Pathan works that towards deep midwicket for another couple. Bates fires another short ball, Pathan slashes hard, the fielder at deep square leg gets under the ball but grasses it at the last moment, two more runs for Pathan. Pathan flicks the penultimate ball of the innings for a single at deep midwicket for a single. Bhatia works the last ball for a single. So, Auckland need 138 runs to win the match. Rajat Bhatia 9*(9b), Yusuf Pathan 22*(19b) ==================================================================================== Over 19 || Score 129/6 Mahmood to end his spell with the final over. Bhatia gets a short ball and he hits that towards deep midwicket for a cracking boundary! Mahmood bowls a slower one and Bhatia charges down the track, doesn’t connect this time. Bhatia gets off strike with a single. The physio is one the ground and Bhatia is undergoing some treatment. Bhatia has asked for new shoes, with better spikes. Pathan works the next ball for a single. Bhatia works the next ball for a single past the bowler. Pathan slashes hard at the last ball, but manages just a single at long-off. Excellent spell from Azhar Mahmood comes to an end. Azhar Mahmood 4-1-16-3 ==================================================================================== Over 18 || Score 121/6 Bates to bowl his third over. Bates drifts one on the leg-side as Pathan guides that towards long leg for a boundary! Pathan now gets a short ball and he smashes that towards deep midwicket for a boundary! Ten runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 17 || Score 111/6 Mills brought back into the attack. Shakib Al Hasan gets some width and he swings the bat hard as the ball goes straight to the man at sweeper cover! Rajat Bhatia is the new batsman. Four runs from the over. Shakib Al Hasan c de Grandhomme b Mills 15 (22b) ==================================================================================== Over 16 || Score 107/5 Adams to bowl his final over. Nine runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 15 || Score 98/5 Azhar Mahmood brought back into the attack. And he dismisses McCullum! The ball swung away, took an outside edge and Hopkins took a good catch to his left. Another good innings from McCullum comes to an end. Yusuf Pathan is the new batsman. Just one run from it, superb stuff from Azhar Mahmood! BB McCullum c Hopkins b Azhar Mahmood 40 (35b) ==================================================================================== Over 14 || Score 97/4 Adams to bowl his third over. McCullum welcomes him with a massive Six over deep midwicket! Ten runs from the over. KKR unable to find gaps on a consistent basis. ==================================================================================== Over 13 || Score 87/4 Hira to continue. Six runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 12 || Score 81/4 Mahmood to continue. He continues to bowl with a good line. Seven runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 11 || Score 74/4 Hira to continue. Just two runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 10 || Score 72/4 Azhar Mahmood brought into the attack. And he strikes second ball, removes the Big Fish Kallis! It was an outswinger which took an outside edge and Lou Vincent at first slip took an excellent low catch to dismiss the South African. Manoj Tiwary is the new batsman. And Tiwary is out for a duck first ball! KKR are wobbling here. It was a Yorker length ball, Tiwary wanted to work that on the leg-side, got a leading edge and Mahmood took a comfortable catch of his own bowling. Two in two for Mahmood and he’s on a hat-trick! Shakib Al Hasan is the new batsman. Mahmood starts with a double-wicket maiden. MK Tiwary c & b Azhar Mahmood 0 (1b) H Kallis c Vincent b Azhar Mahmood 0 (2b) ==================================================================================== Over 9 || Score 72/2 Hira to continue. McCullum shimmies down the track and smashes the first ball over the bowler’s head for a flat six! McCullum follows it with a single. Bisla plays a paddle scoop for a boundary. He hits the next ball straight to the fielder at long-off! Auckland have managed to break the partnership! Kallis is the new batsman. Eleven runs and a wicket for Hira from the over. MS Bisla c Kitchen b Hira 38 (24b) ==================================================================================== Over 8 || Score 61/1 Adams to continue. Bisla was once again offered some width, he pounced on that, make some room and worked that through covers for a boundary! ==================================================================================== Over 7 || Score 54/1 Ronnie Hira comes into the attack. Bisla paddle-sweeps one for a boundary! Eleven runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 6 || Score 43/1 Andre Adams comes into the attack. Adams bowls a length ball to Bisla and he clobbers that over deep midwicket for a Six! Eight runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 5 || Score 35/1 Mills to continue. Mills dropped Bisla of a tough chance off his own bowling. Just four runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 4 || Score 31/1 Bates to continue. McCullum gets some width and he smacks that over point for a boundary! More width on offer for McCullum off the last ball as he drives that through covers for another boundary! Twelve runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 3 || Score 19/1 Mills to continue. Bisla capitalizes on a free-hit and smacks that between deep backward point and deep cover for a boundary! Bisla charges down the track off the next ball and drives the ball through covers for a another boundary! Nine runs from the over. ==================================================================================== Over 2 || Score 10/1 Michael Bates to bowl the second over. A huge appeal of the very first ball, turned down by the umpire. Gambhir gets some width off the next ball and he works that over the point fielder for his first boundary! Gambhir plays two dot balls. Gambhir gets a fuller length ball and he works that towards short of covers, Martin Guptill dives to his left and takes a stunnnnner! What a catch! That’s the end for KKR skipper, superb effort that from a top class fielder! McCullum is the new batsman. Just four runs from the over. G Gambhir c Guptill b Bates 5 (9b) ==================================================================================== Over 1 || Score 6/0 Kyle Mills to bowl the first over, Bisla on strike. And he nicks the first ball over the slip cordon for a boundary! Bisla takes a quick single off the next ball. Gambhir faces three dot balls and then takes a single off the last ball. TOSS: KKR have won the toss and they have decided to 'bat first'. Good news for KKR fans - Jacques Kallis is fit to play the match. One change for KKR, Shakib Al Hasan replaces Brett Lee. ==================================================================================== Indian Premier League champions KKR would try to make a formidable comeback as they face Auckland Aces in their second match of the Champions League Twenty20. KKR were humiliated by the Delhi Daredevils in their opening game. Auckland Aces led by Gareth Hopkins would be wary of KKR’s spin attack and it is yet to be seen whether they can combat the likes of Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan and in the KKR side. Players to watch out for: Shakib Al Hasan: Form is something that doesn’t elude the phenomenal all-rounder for long and the Bangladeshi would be keen to register a victory for his side in the CLT20. Azhar Mahmood: He had won the first match for his side and Auckland would want the Pakistan all-rounder to come up with a similar show against KKR. If there is someone in the Auckland squad who can combat the spin-attack, it is Azhar Mahmood.