Pakistani all – rounder Azhar Mahmood put in a man of the match all round performance Auckland to secure a victory against IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders.
CLT20 2012: Azhar Mahmood rips apart Kolkata Knight Riders
Mahmood returned with figures of 4-16 in 4 overs with one maiden over. He picked up the important wickets of Kiwi’s keeper Brendon McCullum, Jack Kallis and Manoj Tiwary. McCullum was looking dangerous for Kolkata after scoring 40 of 35 balls with two sixes and and 3 boundaries before he was caught by Hopkins of Mahmood. Kolkata could only manage a score of 137 with contributions from Bisla and 22 runs from Yusuf Pathan of 19 balls in the end.
Auckland chased down the total in 17.4 overs at ease. Martin Guptill chipped in with 25 runs. Lou Vincent scored a blistering 30 of 12 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Azhar Mahmood who came in at one down scored 51 of 42 with 3 fours and 2 sixes to give Auckland their victory. Anaru Kitchen made 25 of 15 balls for Auckland.
For Kolkata Narine picked up 2 wickets for 24 in his four overs and Kallis gave away only 17 of his 3 oers but Balaji went for 38 of his four overs despite picking up a wicket.
Marting Guptil came up with an acrobatic catch to dismiss Gautham Gambhir early in the innings to give KKR a set – back. Kolkata now have an uphill task after losing both their matches so far while other teams in the group have so far played just one match apiece.
Tags: Auckland Aces, Azhar Mahmood, CLT20, CLT20 2012, Cricket, Gautham Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders
