Kolkata Knight Riders remained unbeaten in the Champions League T20 as they beat Dolphins by 36 runs in their last Group A game at Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Monday. Defending 187 fuelled by Robin Uthappa and Manish Pandey, the IPL champions put the skids under Dolphins at the start of their chase and despite good batting efforts from Andile Phehlukwayo and Khaya Zondo the team from South Africa could only go as far as 151 for 8 to end their tournament without a win. KKR, with four consecutive wins in the tournament and 13 in all, topped their group and will now play Australia's Hobart Hurricanes, second in Group B, in the semi-finals.
After losing Cameron Delport (0) and Cody Chetty (1) in the first two overs, Dolphins were never in the chase. Captain Morne van Wyk's 34 and the fifth-wicket 69-run stand between Phehlukwayo (37) and Zondo (32) caused KKR some problems but Sunil Narine cleaned up Phehlukwayo in the 15th over and then got rid of the big-hitting Robert Frylinck (11) and Zondo off successive balls in his next over to put an end to any chances of an upset. Narine returned 3 for 33 while Yusuf Pathan chipped in with 2 for 25.
KKR overcame the loss of two early wickets to post a big total after Gautam Gambhir, captaining in his 100th game, decided to bat earlier in the day. Uthappa and Pandey led KKR's comeback after captain Gautam Gambhir (12) and Jacques Kallis (6) fell cheaply with just 34 runs on the board in five overs. While Pandey took some time to settle, Uthappa hit top gear very early in the partnership.
With the death-overs approaching, Pandey also began to cut loose and in the 18th over bowled by Kyle Abbott he hit two fours and two sixes to make his presence felt. He remained unbeaten on 76 off 47 balls with the help of five sixes and five fours while Uthappa carried his bat for 85 off 55 balls (13 fours), his best-ever T20 score. Both added a 91-ball 153 for the third wicket. KKR went into the match unchanged. The South African team, on the other hand, made one change, bringing in fast bowler Craig Alexander in place of Keshav Maharaj.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 187 for 2 (Uthappa 85*, Manish Pandey 76*) beat Dolphins (Phehlukwayo 37, Zondo 32; Narine 3 for 33, Pathan 2 for 25) by 36 runs.
