All-round Mahmood pushes Kolkata Knight Riders to the brink

A cool and very well phased innings from Azhar Mahmood together with Kitchen took Auckland to a comprehensive win over IPL Champions Kolkata Knight Riders at Cape Town. With this big defeat, KKR are virtually out of this Champions League Twenty20 2012.

It was a pretty much one-sided contest as Azhar Mahmood outclassed Kolkata Knight Riders with his all-round performance. The conditions were ideally suited to him as the weather at Cape Town was cold and windy, which aided him in getting natural movement of the surface and in the end he was rewarded with three wickets.

After all the captains decided to bowl first on sunny day, Gautaum Gambhir surprisingly elected to bat on a cold and windy weather and he paid the price for it. Kiwi fast bowler Kyle Mills was hitting the deck and was getting the natural movement of the surface which made life difficult for KKR openers. Gambhir struggled against swing-bowling. It was Brendon McCullum who looked in fine knick and was timing the ball really well. He was finding the gaps and kept the scoreboard ticking and also took the responsibility in a crucial match and scored a quick fire 40(35). KKR could have posted a competitive score but McCullum did not get support from the other end as his partners were unable to offer resistance to the swing-bowling of Mahmood. On two occasions, Kolkata Knight Riders looked like posting a competitive total that could be defendable by their bowlers, but on both occasions Mahmood put an end to their task. Following the wicket of Manoj Tiwary, KKR were nowhere in the game and in the end could only manage a mere 137 runs on the board off the allotted 20 overs.

Their biggest test was in the last five overs where Auckland skipper used his best bowlers to curtail the run-flow. Perhaps he knew that batsmen push a little harder in the final five overs, and therefore he used Mills, Mahmood and Bates for couple of overs. They got the ball in the right areas and in death overs they were spot on with yorkers, which ultimately made life difficult for Kolkata Knight Riders stroke-makers. At that point of time, Gambhir should have realized that he made a mess of the toss.

Clearly KKR didn’t fancy the pace and swing of Mills and Bates who bowled 8 overs for 60 runs and two wickets between them. Despite picking up only two wickets, they seemed to have given nothing away as they were spot on with line and length, and kept the check on KKR batsman.

KKR required a good start with the ball after they posted only 137 runs on the board. But that did not happen as Balaji went for 17 in his first over which gave Auckland the momentum and from then, KKR never looked like getting back into the match despite picking up the wicket of Vincent initially. Azhar Mahmood made all the impact as soon as he walked in and clobbered KKR bowlers all round the park. He along with Kitchen took Auckland closer to victory but unfortunately Kitchen was trapped in front by Narine and couldn’t finish the game for his side. But Mahmood stayed till the end and took Auckland to a comprehensive win over KKR by 7 wickets.

This big margin of defeat also puts KKR virtually out of the competition and they will have to come out with an effective strategy in the next couple of matches. Gambhir as skipper made a mess of this match and he’s the one who needs take the accountability for the loss. The conditions were ideally suited to someone like Brett Lee and instead of him, he brought in Shakib which didn’t seem to be a right move. The track was also not turning and Shakib also didn’t justify his selection. Nevertheless, it was good effort by KKR!