Thaindian News

Hyderabad, Sep 21 (IANS) Kolkata Knight Riders lost to Somerset by 11 runs in their last qualifying match pool A match here at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here Wednesday but both teams qualified for the final round of Champions League Twenty20.

Chasing a target of 167, Knight Riders made 155 for eight in 20 overs after a brilliant 31-balls 46 by Dutch star Ryan ten Doeschate and qualified for the main round on the basis of better net run rate.

Opting to bat first, Somerset put on a competitive 166 for six in 20 overs thanks to a crucial 72-run stand between Peter Trego (70) and the county’s South African import Roelof van der Merwe (40).

Trego produced a brilliant 61-ball knock smashing nine fours whike Van der Merwe got his 40 in just 25 balls camw down hard on off-spinner Yusuf Pathan, who gave away 31 runs from his full quota.

Knight Riders made a disappointing start to the chase as they lost openers Manvinder Bisla (8) and Jacques Kallis (1) in the first two overs.

Leg-spinner Max Waller (2/23) then removed Shreevats Goshwami (14) and Manoj Tiwary (27) to keep Kolkata behind the run-rate but Doeschate and Shakib Al-Hasan (13) played sensibly as Knight Riders soon caught up with the required run rate to qualify for their maiden Champions League.

Van der Merwe took a stunning catch in the 16th over on the square-leg boundary to dismiss Shakib, Doeschate and Rajat Bhatia (19) to assured that the Knight Riders book their berth for the final stage with three balls to spare.

Besides Knight Riders and Somerset, who have qualified for the third time, Trinidad and Tobago is the third team that qualified while for the next stage, while Leicestershire Foxes, Auckland Aces and Ruhunu Rhinos went back home.

Trego, Man of the Match, said: “I have been playing for Somerset for some time and this one of the proudest nights of my career with them. When Roelof bats the way he did, it takes the pressure. All other batsmen batted at more than run a ball. We had nothing to lose as outsiders, so we can give it our all.”

Knight Riders captain Jacques Kallis said he was happy that his team has qualified but termed it as a poor performance.

“To be honest, we are happy to qualify. It was tight in the end. To be brutally honest, it was a poor performance. We fielded poorly, didn’t bat well. Ryan played an exceptional innings to get us through. When we lost a couple of wickets up front, we realised we didn’t need to be heroes,” he said.