CLT20 2011 Match 5: Somerset’s Van der Merwe Stuns Kolkata Knight Riders’ Kallis and Co.

In a relatively high scoring affairs, the Somerset Sabres managed to hand the Kolkata Knight Riders nothing short of a shock defeat in the race for the Champions League Twenty2011 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad.

Somerset Sabres

The Somerset Sabres were in for a hard chase after the Kolkata Knight Riders muscled their way to 162 off their twenty overs with the South African powerhouse, Jacques Kallis, deposed at the KKR captain with the return of Gautam Gambhir, stood like a rock to ensure that KKR stayed on track despite the fact that their skipper went for a duck upon his return.

It was not an easy match for KKR and all of Kallis’ experience came to the crease, biding his time and then launching into full force towards the end of his innings to help Kolkata Knight Riders post a total that would test the hunger of the Somerset Sabres. Kalli’s seventy-eight runs from sixty-one balls was the talking point of the innings, particularly the four sixes that nicely punctuated a well thought out innings that proved pivotal for the IPL team that went through the Champions League Twenty20 2011 qualifier tournament.

In fact as the Somerset Sabres met the the Kolkata Knight Riders for the second time in the span of a week, it was worth recalling that although the Sabres had won the last match, the Kolkata Knight Riders qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 2011 with the help of the run rate from that memorable match. To now face off was built up as revenge and it seemed with Kallis going full tilt and Yusuf Pathan making himself useful with a cameo knock of thirty-nine runs, it seemed the Kolkata Knight Riders were out not only for points but also, for revenge.

However, the story at half time was far from finished. Confident of their total of 161, Kolkata Knight Riders would have been wary of Peter Trego who was the Man of the Match in the last match. Instead it was South Africa’s Roelof van der Merwe that the Kolkata Knight Riders failed to check. Having been a relatively economical bowler in the KKR innings when he conceded twenty-one runs off only four overs, van der Merwe got more cheeky with the bat in hand.

Out came the reverse sweep, the plonked sixes and the nightmare free style run flow that began to worry Jacques Kallis and company as the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers failed to keep van der Merwe down. Even as Trego occupied the crease in the century run partnership for the second wicket, it was van der Merwe who was clearly stealing the show, even when it seemed that the task seemed too much for the Somerset Sabres given the total they were chasing. After all, KKR had greatly accelerated towards the end of their innings, particularly in the last five overs and it seemed that Sabres would need similar antics if they were to score their first one.

However, those concerns were waylaid with van der Merwe punishing the Kolkata Knight Riders with his seventy-three runs coming off only forty balls in an innings typical of Twenty20 extravaganza to give the Somerset Sabres a comfortable win even if it was with only two balls to spare.