Hyderabad: Kolkata Knight Riders lost their final qualifying round match against Somerset by 11 runs but still managed to qualify for the Champions League Twenty20 main tournament on Wednesday.
Chasing a victory target of 167, KKR could score 155 for eight but made it to the 10-team main tournament as the third highest ranked side in the six-team qualifying round on better net run rate.
They collected two points from one win – against Auckland Aces -- the same as Ruhunu Eleven but qualified for the main tournament on better net run rate.
KKR have a net run rate of minus 0.225 while Ruhunu ended at minus 0.275. The Kolkata side qualified for the main round after reaching 153 in their run chase.
The Jacques Kallis-led side joined three other Indian teams -- reigning champions Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians -- in the main round, to be held from September 23 to October 9.
Somerset and Trinidad and Tobago are the two other teams to have qualified to the main round from the qualifiers. Both secured two wins each.
Riding on opener Peter Trego's fluent half-century, Somerset first produced a solid batting display to post a challenging 166 for six after electing to bat and then restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 155 for eight at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.
Ryan ten Doeschate waged a lone battle for KKR, hitting one four and three sixes on his way to 46 from 31 deliveries, but eventually ran short of partners.
Kolkata never looked like getting to the target as they got off to a nightmarish start and crumbled to 10 for two inside second over, including the wicket of their captain Jacques Kallis (2).
First, Manvinder Bisla (8) was run-out while needlessly going for a non-existent single and then dangerman Kallis' attempt to hit Murali Kartik over mid-on fell flat as James Hildreth took a simple catch.
With the early departure of both the openers, Sreevats Goswami (14) and Manoj Tiwary (27) scratched their way to 48 for two, picking up occasional boundaries in between to resurrect the Kolkata innings.
However, Sreevats' stay at the crease was cut short by Max Waller as the diminutive left-hander was caught by Nick Compton at long-on in the 8th over.
Waller struck again in his next over as this time the spinner castled Tiwary to leave KKR tottering at 70 for 4. The Bengal batsman hit five fours in his 23-ball stay at the crease.
Misery continued to chase KKR as the man who could turn the game around - Yusuf Pathan - departed after contributing just 12. Batting with a runner, Pathan tried to clear long-on but fell just short to get caught by Lewis Gregory off Arul Suppiah.
Next man in, Shakib Al Hasan (13) came in and deposited Suppiah for a six as he looked to accelerate the run chase. However, his stay at the crease was short-lived as he was caught by der Merwe off Trego at deep square.
With 43 runs required off last four overs, Rajat Bhatia (19), who came at the fall of Hasan and Doeschate joined hands and went out all guns blazing to reach the qualification target of 153.
Kolkata reached the qualifying mark in the last over, but in the process, lost Bhatia and Doeschate.
For Somerset, der Merwe and Waller picked up two wickets apiece while Kartik, Trego and Suppiah accounted for one wicket each.
PTI
