Kolkata Knight Riders Pulls off 2 Run Win over Auckland; Have Somerset to Face

The Kolkata Knight Riders seemed to be in a pickle in their first match of the Champions League Twenty20 2011 qualifier tournament. However, they managed to eke out a narrow two run win over the Auckland Aces and will now look forward to the match against the Somerset Sabres to book their places in the Champions League Twenty20 2011.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders are without their skipper, Gautam Gambhir, in whose absence Jacques Kallis is holding the reins. And he certainly had a tough time in the first match against the team from New Zealand, this despite Manvinder Bisla and Kallis getting them off to a decent start.

Manvinder Bisla impressed once more opening the batting and scoring forty-five runs off thirty-two balls. Keeping him company was the powerhourse Kallis whose thirty-five ensured that the Kolkata Knight Riders got to seventy-three runs off the first ten overs virtually without incident. However, once the gates opened, Kolkata Knight Riders failed to stem the rot, in the end managing just 121 runs when it seemed they were destined for so much more.

For the Auckland Aces, Lou Vincent provided the rescue act as the team from New Zealand looked in need of one strong partnership. Vincent has battled personal problems that has seen a lengthened absence from the New Zealand team. In that sense, it was great to see him play in a style reminiscent of his days playing with the New Zealand team. In his innings, Auckland appeared to push Kolkata Knight Riders to the brink of desperation.

To Kolkata Knight Riders, winning was imperative because they are the only one out of the four IPL teams who have to pass through the qualifier tournament to join the Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians in the main draw of the Champions League Twenty20 2011. They are having to do it without their skipper because of Gautam Gambhir having suffered a concussion on India’s tour of England and having failed to recover sufficiently in time although there is speculation that he may join the team when they do make the main draw of the Champions League Twenty20 2011.

The franchisees though are trying to steer clear of the issue a second time round after it was revealed that Gambhir’s shoulder injury had become a monumental problem of integrity between the player, the BCCI and the franchisee during the IPL 4 season. Unfortunately injuries have continued to trail Gambhir which basically means that Kolkata Knight Riders are going to have to beat Somerset Sabres who managed to win their match against the Auckland Aces needing one run to win in the last ball of their encounter to send the New Zealand team out of the reckoning, having lost both close matches.

For Kolkata Knight Riders, they will be looking for a clean win against the Somerset Sabres in order to confirm their place as the Champions League Twenty20 2011 qualifier tournament enters its third and final day before the three teams are decided to join the seven predecided teams in the main tournament that begins on the 23rd. Kolkata Knight Riders would certainly like to make the number of IPL teams to four.