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- IPL 2012
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Auckland Aces v Kolkata Knight Riders, Group A, Cape Town
Jolted KKR look for turnaround
The Preview by Kanishkaa Balachandran
October 14, 2012
Match facts
October 15, 2012Start time 1730 (1530 GMT)
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Big Picture
The Champions League moves to Newlands in Cape Town, which will host its first game, between Auckland Aces and Kolkata Knight Riders. The IPL 2012 winners, Knight Riders, got off to a terrible start on Saturday, losing heavily to Delhi Daredevils in Centurion. Chasing 161, Knight Riders were reeling at 3 for 3, undone by pace and movement. It was a puzzling decision by the captain Gautam Gambhir, to chase on a ground that heavily favours the team batting first under lights. Five of their batsmen got hit and Delhi's four-man pace attack was too imposing to tackle.
Knight Riders will be up against a team making its debut in the main round of the Champions League. Auckland arrived in South Africa two weeks before the qualifying round to acclimatise and things have gone smoothly for them, with victories in both their qualifying matches. Kyle Mills has been parsimonious - he had figures of 4-1-6-2 against Sialkot Stallions - and Azhar Mahmood has been among the wickets. Sterner tests lie ahead, when they come up against franchise teams that have the best foreign Twenty20 talent.
Watch out for...
Azhar Mahmood demolished Hampshire with bat and ball, becoming only the sixth player to take five wickets and score a fifty in a Twenty20 match. He may not be an international player anymore but he is enjoying a second coming as a freelance T20 specialist. Gareth Hopkins, the Auckland captain, emphasised the experience Mahmood brings to the unit. His game-changing abilities made him an asset during his on-and-off career for Pakistan and, at 37, his skills haven't diminished.
Brendon McCullum began his World Twenty20 campaign with a blazing 123 against Bangladesh in Pallekele - his second T20 international century. His CLT20 campaign wasn't so special though, getting out for a second-ball duck. Knight Riders also lost Jacques Kallis to an injury before he could open his account. If Kallis misses out, McCullum's contributions at the top will be all the more crucial.
Stats and trivia
- Gautam Gambhir's last five scores in competitive matches, including India games, are 0,8,0,17,45.
- Manvinder Bisla needs another 44 for 1000 runs in Twenty20s.
Quotes
"We played badly and it was an embarrassing batting performance. We have the talent and we will come back."
Gautam Gambhir
"Our guys were a step ahead of the opposition in the fielding department and they adjusted to the pitch conditions and the bounce."
Auckland coach Paul Strang
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Feeds: Kanishkaa Balachandran
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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Kanishkaa Balachandran
Tournament Results
Lions v Syd Sixers at Johannesburg
- Oct 28, 2012
Syd Sixers won by 10 wickets (with 45 balls remaining)
Syd Sixers won by 10 wickets (with 45 balls remaining)
Syd Sixers v Titans at Centurion
- Oct 26, 2012
Syd Sixers won by 2 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
More results »
Syd Sixers won by 2 wickets (with 0 balls remaining)
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so nice, that shakib innnnnn......
Posted byI can't believe gambit chose to bat. Does he not realize that duckworth Lewis heavily favors team batting 2nd in t20 and the weather looks like rain. He always bats first without even thinking. This decision could cost kkr. Aa will be pleased as I am sure they would have chosen to field first. Aa r just lucky gambit is captaining kkr. All these things add to a likely aa win.
Posted by mahafuz1983 on (October 15, 2012, 15:14 GMT)what a blunder....no no...I am a BD and shakib fan.....happy he is playing......maybe KKR will win too....but bad move to drop lee......r u kidding?......in southafrica?......in overcast condition?......when he bowled briliantly last match?......if they wanted shakib they should have dropped brendon......finger crossed....please Balaji don,t have a off day again
Posted bykkr very good team.
kkr very good team
Posted byAces has a good chance to put up a solid competition. With the likes of Mahmood, Guptill, Mills, Hopkins, Vincent n Adams, this team has a good composition to fancy their chances against the KKR. All the best Aces. KKR is one of my favourite teams in CLT20, still today I want Aces to wins. They deserve this coz they cleared the qualification in style. Go ACES GO!!!!
Posted bySakib hove to play today...
Posted byThey should play field ryan tendo if kallis is not fit...
Posted byIt is a different ball game playing on turning tracks, unlike the dead Indian pitches. Acclimatization process always gets the least time and precedes before parties & private moments. This, then, shows in their field performances
Posted byBig guns of KKR are not having best of time and i wonder why Sakib is not there as he has the best score among all in KKR in individual last match, scored 84 against the strongest bowling attack of the world. and batting lineup is another issue, tiwari need to be promoted, he is a wonderful cricketer no doubt, looking for more time on the wicket. And magical Bret Lee needs to Strike early to make sure narine and Skib do the rest convincingly.
Posted bykallis is not the star hasnt been. I find it quite funny. his excuse for batting so slowly in test matches and one day games has been that theres pressure because if he fails, the whole team does. but in t20? theres 20 overs. theres very little time to anchor as is his usual excuse. and on top of it, in an ipl team theres just a whole bunch of people who can score, gambhir,mccullum,sakib, pathan,etc. So if anything, there would be not pressure, he could just express himself in this format. but alas, he just anchors again. so takin little risks, batting at at strike rate of just over a hundred, basically a run a ball, is it any surprise that he makes 30 40 runs a game, close to 400 500 a season of ipl? and then he gets hits for close to 8 runs an over, and takes basically 1 wicket a game lol. is that really world class? pretty much average i think the sa t20 team finally learnt and dropped him down the order in games where quick run scoring is required. he just cant do it regularly.