Auckland Aces 3-139 (Azhar Mahmood 51, Lou Vincent 30, Sunil Narine 2-24) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 6-137 (Brendon McCullum 40, Manvinder Bisla 38, Azhar Mahmood 3-16)

Azhar Mahmood continued with his brilliant all round performance as Kolkata Knight Riders were humiliated by Auckland Aces in the important match.

Kolkata Knight Riders put on board a reasonable total of 137 runs after losing six wickets in the allotted quota of 20 overs. Auckland Aces achieved the target by smashing 139 runs for the loss of just three wickets in 17.4 overs.

Azhar Mahmood (Auckland Aces) was declared ‘player of the match’ for his masterly all round performance.

The Group A match in the Champions League Twenty20 was played at Newlands, Cape Town, on Monday, July 15, 2012.

Tom Moody described the pitch perfect for batting in his pitch report and Gautam Gambhir followed him while preferring to bat after winning the toss for Kolkata Knight Riders. The lack of form for Gautam Gambhir continued when he was gone after scoring just five runs as the score reached 10 in 1.5 overs. Brendon McCullum joined in next with Manvinder Bisla who initiated the attack with a couple of fours in the third over and the first repeated it in the next over.

Bisla was dropped on the first ball of the following  over and he hit the first six of the match in the sixth over. He tried to keep up the scoring rate but was caught by Anaru Kitchen off Ronnie Hira for 38 from 24 deliveries with 1 six and 6 fours. The second wicket fell at 72 in 8.4 overs and Azhar Mahmood bowled an eventful 10^th over when he got rid of the prime batsmen of KKR, Jacques Kallis and Manoj Tiwary. Both batsmen were unable to open their accounts and put their team under a tremendous pressure.

Brendon McCullum took the challenge of scoring and enhanced the total to 98 in 14.3 overs. He was finally caught behind by the wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins off Azhar Mahmood again for 40 scored from 35 deliveries with 2 big sixes and 3 fours. The late order batsmen contributed some useful runs as Kolkata Knight Riders reached 6-137 at the end of the 20^th over.

Azhar Mahmood was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets whereas Kyle Mills, Michael Bates and Ronnie Hira shared one wicket each.

Lou Vincent opened the innings for Auckland in an explosive manner by dispatching 16 runs in the first over with 1 six and 2 fours as Martin Guptill assisted him well from the other end. Vincent added another six and a four in the next couple of overs but was caught by Manoj Tiwary at square leg off Sunil Narine for 30 from 12 mere balls with 2 huge sixes and 3 fours.

Azhar Mahmood came in next at the fall of the first wicket at 37 in three overs as Guptill was dropped by Shakib Al Hasan off Jacques Kallis at nine on the fourth delivery of the sixth over. The partnership blossomed up with a thoughtful innings from the two batsmen. Auckland Aces were chasing well after the completion of the ninth over after achieving the run rate of 7.44 as compared to the required rate of 6.45.

The second wicket contributed 39 runs in 41 balls as Martin Guptill was gone for 25 runs. Anaru Kitchen dropped in next and begun his innings with a four followed by one six in the 11^th over. Azhar Mahmood continued with his firework and got 3 fours in the next two overs. The breezy partnership of 41 off 29 balls when Kitchen was declared leg before wicket off Narine for 24 scored from just 15 balls with 1 six and 3 fours.

Azhar Mahmood hanged in the centre until he dispatched the winning four on the fourth delivery of the 18^th over. He remained unbeaten for 51 off 42 with 2 lofty sixes and 3 fours as Auckland Aaces thrashed 139 with seven wickets in hand and 14 balls to spare.

Auckland Aces won the match comprehensively with a big margin of seven wickets and earned four substantial points.