DURBAN, (Reuters) – Holders Rajasthan Royals were knocked out of the Indian Premier League following a four-wicket loss to Kolkata Knight Riders at Kingsmead yesterday.
In the second match of the Durban double-header, Chennai Super Kings beat the Kings XI Punjab by 24 runs to secure their place in the competition’s semi-finals.
Rajasthan, after completing their 14 round-robin matches, are in sixth place with 13 points, while Chennai moved up to second on 17, one point behind leaders Delhi Daredevils.
Punjab’s defeat left them in fifth with only a slim mathematical chance of making the semi-finals.
After restricting Rajasthan to 101 for nine, Kolkata made heavy weather of their run chase as they slipped to 45 for six.
Fast bowler Munaf Patel did the early damage, capturing two for 14 off four overs before South Africa off spinner Johan Botha snared two for 19.
But right-handed Indian batsman Laxmi Shukla kept his head and compiled a match-winning innings of 48 not out off 46 balls to give Kolkata their third victory with three balls of the innings remaining.
Rajasthan’s innings had begun as poorly as Kolkata’s and they tottered to 62 for seven in 11 overs as South African swing bowler Charl Langeveldt ran through the top order, picking up three wickets in his first three overs.
Opening batsman Naman Ojha top-scored for Rajasthan with an aggressive knock of 22 runs off 12 balls.
Chennai posted 116 for nine before restricting Punjab to 92 for eight.
Opening batsman Parthiv Patel carved his way to 32 runs off 23 balls as Chennai made a good start and reached 54 for one.
However, they proceeded to lose eight wickets for 62 runs in the face of some disciplined Punjab bowling.
Fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was Punjab’s top performer with the ball, capturing two for 23.
In reply, Punjab failed to cope with Chennai’s off spinners as Ravi Ashwin (2-13), Muttiah Muralitharan (2-8) and Suresh Raina (2-17) maintained such a stranglehold over Punjab’s batsmen that only Australian Luke Pomersbach (26) and Irfan Pathan (14) reached double figures.