Azhar Mahmood hit unbeaten 51 off 42 balls
Azhar Mahmood shone with both bat and ball as Auckland Aces crushed Kolkata Knight Riders by seven wickets in the Champions League Twenty20 group A match at Newlands, Cape Town on Monday.
The former Pakistan all-rounder hit unbeaten 51 off 42 balls after scalping 3-16 as, restricting Kolkata to a modest 137-6, Auckland overhauled the target with 14 balls to spare.
It was the second loss for the IPL champions who had earlier lost their opening match to the Delhi Daredevils on Saturday. They need to win both their remaining games with convincing margin to keep themselves in hunt of a semi-final berth.
Azhar Mahmood disdained hapless Kolkata bowlers with flamboyant shots all over the park and plundered two sixes and three boundaries.
Azhar Mahmood shared a 39-run second wicket stand with Martin Guptill (25 off 26) before stitching up a quick-fire 41 runs in the company of No.4 Anaru Kitchen (24 off 15).
Guptill, who hit three boundaries before being undone by paceman Lakshmipathy Balaji, was earlier involved in a blistering 37-run opening stand with Lou Vincent (30 off 12) in three overs.
Earlier, elected to bat, Kolkata suffered an early blow as skipper Gautam Gambhir (5) edged to Guptill in second slip off seamer Michael Bates in the second over.
Brendon McCullum (40 off 35) and Manvinder Bisla (38 off 24) launched a strong recovery and shared a 62-run second-wicket stand to put Kolkata on course towards a competitive but latter’s dismissal off spinner Roneel Hira sparked a comprehensive collapse in their batting-line.
Azhar Mohammad dismissed Jacques Kallis and Manoj Tiwary for ducks in successive deliveries and later scalped dangerous McCullum, whose knock was laced with three boundaries and two sixes.
Down the order, Yusuf Pathan hit unbeaten 22 off 19 balls with the help of two fours to take the total past 130-mark.