Kolkata Knight Riders vs. Lahore Lions, CLT20: Highlights, Scorecard and Report

Kolkata Knight Riders (153/6) nearly imploded late against Lahore Lions (151/7), leaving it to the final over to beat their Pakistani rivals by four wickets.

Sunil Narine once again confirmed he's one of the world's best Twenty20 bowlers, playing a flawless match that ultimately gave the defending IPL champions their second win in the 2014 T20 Champions League.

Both Kolkata and Lahore told reporters before the match they wanted the Lions to bat first, and the Pakistani side got off to a strong start thanks to Ahmed Shehzad, who scored 59 runs from 42 balls.

BATSMEN		RUNS	BALLS	SR	4S	6S
BOWLER	O	R	W	ECON	DOTS
Nasir Jamshed	run out (Andre Russell)	10	16	62.50	1	0
Ahmed Shehzad	c Robin Uthappa b Piyush Chawla	59	42	140.47	5	4
Mohammad Hafeez	c Andre Russell b Kuldeep Yadav	9	15	60.00	0	0
Umar Akmal	c Gautam Gambhir b Pat Cummins	40	24	166.66	3	2
Saad Nasim	c Suryakumar Yadav b Sunil Narine	0	4	0.00	0	0
Umar Siddiq	lbw Sunil Narine	2	6	33.33	0	0
Asif Raza	b Sunil Narine	0	1	0.00	0	0
Wahab Riaz	NOT OUT	14	12	116.66	2	0
EXTRAS	(w 7, b 5, lb 5)	17
TOTAL	(7 wickets; 20 overs)	151
Pat Cummins	4	38	1	9.50	11
Andre Russell	4	38	0	9.50	8
Piyush Chawla	4	35	1	8.75	9
Sunil Narine	4	9	3	2.25	16
Kuldeep Yadav	4	21	1	5.25	13

An extended partnership with Umar Akmal (40 from 24) in the middle overs gave Lahore solid production, as Kolkata's vaunted bowlers struggled with the pitch in Hyderabad. Apart from Narine, of course.

The Trinidadian spinner was his usual dominant self, surrendering just nine runs in four overs, while taking three wickets. He came dangerously close to a hat-trick, prompting cricketer Aakash Chopra to beg the powers that be to change the rules when Narine is on the pitch:

Cricket blogger Peter Miller kept his comments brief:

Kuldeep Yadav also put in a solid performance, conceding 21 in four overs and taking a wicket. Pat Cummings, Piyush Chawla and Andre Russell struggled mightily, however, surrendering a combined 111 runs to Lahore.

The target of 151 seemed very manageable for the IPL champions, although they were warned the pitch appeared to favour spinners and wouldn't be very friendly to their batsmen.

Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir opened for the Knight Riders, and incredibly, they were still both on the pitch after 10 overs. Lahore's bowling and fielding looked abysmal in the early overs, leading to the duo putting more than 100 runs on the board.

BATSMEN		RUNS	BALLS	SR	4S	6S
BOWLER	O	R	W	ECON	DOTS
Robin Uthappa	b Adnan Rasool	46	34	135.29	4	2
Gautam Gambhir	b Mustafa Iqbal	60	47	127.65	8	0
Manvinder Bisla	c Umar Akmal b Aizaz Cheema	6	8	75.00	0	0
Yusuf Pathan	c Wahab Riaz b Aizaz Cheema	11	10	110.00	0	1
Ryan ten Doeschate	lbw Wahab Riaz	12	9	133.33	1	0
Suryakumar Yadav	NOT OUT	14	5	280.00	1	1
Andre Russell	c Adnan Rasool b Asif Raza	1	4	25.00	0	0
Pat Cummins	NOT OUT	0	0	0.00	0	0
EXTRAS	(w 3)	3
TOTAL	(6 wickets; 19.3 overs)	153	TOTAL	(6 wickets; 19.3 overs)	153	TOTAL
Mohammad Hafeez	3	23	0	7.66	8
Asif Raza	1.3	10	1	6.66	4
Aizaz Cheema	4	42	2	10.50	6
Wahab Riaz	4	25	1	6.25	9
Adnan Rasool	4	28	1	7.00	7
Mustafa Iqbal	3	25	1	8.33	5

Uthappa would be the first to fall, contributing 46 runs from 34 balls, while Gambhir made it to the 14th over, facing 47 deliveries and scoring 60.

Kolkata kept the pace throughout the chase, but when Yusuf Pathan was dismissed after just 10 balls (scoring 11 runs), it looked like the match would still come down to the final over.

Ryan ten Doeschate laid the groundwork with 12 from nine, setting the stage for Russell to win it. He contributed just one run before being caught on the fourth ball he faced, but Suryakumar Yadav came to the rescue, hitting the decisive four with three balls to spare.

Mohammad Hafeez told ESPN Cricinfo he was satisfied with how his young squad performed, despite the result:

"

We got the target we wanted to. 150 on this pitch with the way the ball was turning. Fielding was not up to the mark. We did not take some chances. Still it was a good show, youngsters are learning every game, we have to give them confidence, they will do well. Shehzad was magnificent. Narine bowled well.

"

Kolkata have now taken two wins from two matches, but both results will have been far closer than the team would have liked. Narine is a star with the ball in his hand, but the rest of the team's bowlers have to figure things out in a hurry, as their batting clearly isn't their biggest strength.

Lahore's first showing in the T20 Champions League was very encouraging, but fielding is a big issue that will have to be addressed.

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