Spin tornado sees off Hurricanes
Kolkata Knight Riders took their winning streak to 14, the joint second-highest in Twenty20 history, and made it to their first Champions League T20 final
Kolkata Knight Riders took their winning streak to 14, the joint second-highest in Twenty20 history, and made it to their first Champions League T20 final
Scorer: Gopi Rangarajan | Commentator: Alagappan Muthu
So that's 14 in a row for KKR. They'll want that 15th on Saturday. To find out who joins them, hop over to the Super Kings v Kings XI scorecard. Karthik Krishnaswamy is probably waiting for you. From here, this is Alagappan Muthu, saying sayonara
Jacques Kallis is the Man of the Match. "Been hitting well in the nets, unfortunately missed out in previous occasion. Happy to play a role in getting us through the finals. Scoring up front is going to be easier than the middle period here. Had to set it up for the big hitter. It's great fun playing in finals and senior players have to stand up and put in big performances and it will be the end of a fantastic year for KKR if we win the CLT20 after the IPL as well"
"It was pretty professional. We planned the chase really well on a slow wicket. The experience of Jacques was very useful. And the young players batted around him . Russell was unbelieveable on this wicket, bowling first up and at the death. Sunil and Chawla are always good," says Gautam Gambhir. "We;ve been playing some good cricket but in knockout games it depends on the day .We've not had any complancency, the guys are very hungry and one game to go"
Srinath: "the only way for the opponents to win over KKR is to make them bat first. And by that way, Gambhir does not wear his pads till the end, and the other teams can win..!! superstitious mystery in his pads !! "
chirag: "The last bowl of the game is symbolic in terms that it describes the full match. kkr giving chances to hurricanes to win the game, but Hurricanes in turn dropping the opportunities."
"Combination of both [not enough runs and not enough wickets]," says Xavier Doherty. "The best way to go about it was runs on the borad, and 10 or 15 extra runs would have been nice. Shoaib played really well. We knew spin was going to be a big issue. Shoaib held us together and gave us a total to bowl at. We've put Tasmanian cricket and Hobart cricket on the map"
"140 on the board, it was not too much and they bowled really well. Lost a couple of early wickets. Kallis and me were there, we wanted a partnership and he finished it in style. I've taken confidence from these innings. Last game was good, this was good as well and I'll take these positive through," says Manish Pandey
7.10 pm Its the trademark KKR game. Use spinners to stifle the opposition and chase down a modest target with plenty of wickets in hand in the last over. Jacques Kallis had the luxury to bat at his pace and tucked into a fifty as well. Manish Pandey had allowed him that with a flurry in the middle overs. All-round effort takes Knight Riders into their firs CLT20 final
Striker: "Could you tell a situation when a strike is NOT useful in T20?" Probably when there is seven to win off a single ball? Bollinger for the final over
Jacques Kallis, who scored an unbeaten half-century to take Kolkata Knight Riders into the final of the Champions League T20, said that his international retirement has given him an opportunity to work harder on T20s
Kolkata Knight Riders' Sunil Narine cannot bowl in the Champions League T20 final on Saturday, after he was reported for a second time in two matches for a suspect action
Plays of the day from the first Champions League T20 semi-final between Kolkata Knight Riders and Hobart Hurricanes
Kolkata Knight Riders took their winning streak to 14, the joint second-highest in Twenty20 history, and made it to their first Champions League T20 final