In an encounter billed as India vs Pakistan, <keyword id="6354467" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kolkata-Knight-Riders">Kolkata Knight Riders</keyword> edged clumsy Lahore Lions by four wickets in the Champions League <keyword id="18238" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="T20">T20</keyword> at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Sunday. After all-sorts <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/sunil-narine/30001/56004">Sunil Narine</a> (3 for 9) helped the <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> champions restrict Lions to 151 for 7, <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/robin-uthappa/30001/4093">Robin Uthappa</a> and captain <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/gautam-gambhir/30001/4043">Gautam Gambhir</a> added 100 for the opening wicket to douse any remote hopes Lions might have had. 
 
Click here for <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/live-score/kkr-vs-lio/krll09212014176560/fullscorecard">full scorecard</a> and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/live-score/kkr-vs-lio/krll09212014176560/commentary">commentary</a>. 
 Uthappa (46), Gambhir (60), Manvinder Bisla (6), <keyword id="18938" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yusuf-Pathan">Yusuf Pathan</keyword> (11) , Ryan ten Doeschate (12) and Andre Russell (1) departed in quick succession to light up the Pakistani faces but the wickets came too late in the day as Suryakumar Yadav (14*) kept his cool to see the team home with three balls to go. 
 
The team from across the border had a cloddish outing. First they were at least 20 short of what they should have scored and then a poor performance in the field made matters worse. A golden opportunity had presented itself for Lions in the sixth over when Aizaz Cheema, with a short-pitched delivery, had Uthappa lob an easy catch but Asif Raza dropped it running to his left from short fine-leg. Saad Nasim and Nasir Jamshed also brought their butter fingers into view. Had these opportunities were taken, the result could have been different. 
 
However, the man who actually made the difference for KKR was Narine whose second spell that saw him take back-to-back wickets restricted Lions to a modest total. Left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav also impressed on debut foxing the opposition batsmen throughout his spell (4-0-21-1). 
 
Lions got off to a good start, thanks largely to <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/ahmed-shehzad/7001/7070">Ahmed Shehzad </a>who added 50 runs with Jamshed for the opening wicket. Shehzad was benefited by poor wicketkeeping from Bisla who missed two easy stumping chances when the batsman was on 19 and 32 respectively. Narine also dropped Shehzad on 37 at short fine leg off the bowling of left-arm chinaman Kuldeep Yadav. Shehzad went on to score 59. 
 
The opening stand was broken by a brilliant throw from Russell who ran in from deep midwicket to throw the stumps down at the non-striker's end to send back Jamshed for 10. Captain Mohammad Hafeez and Shehzad departed in quick succession leaving the Pakistanis at 91 for 3 and Gambhir brought back Narine who put the batsmen under a spell straight away. He sent back Nasim (0) first and then in his next over accounted for Umar Siddiq (2) and Raza (1). 
 
Things could have been disastrous for Hafeez's men if it weren't for <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/umar-akmal/7001/7074">Umar Akmal</a> who got some big shots towards the end, making 40 off 24 balls that included two fours and six off Piyush Chawla in an over. Akmal got out off the last ball of the innings. 
 KKR, who won their first match against Chennai Super Kings, made two changes to their team, bringing in Uthappa in place of <keyword id="66306" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Manish-Pandey">Manish Pandey</keyword> and Kuldeep for Umesh Yadav. Lions also made one change, giving a game to <keyword id="2528483" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mustafa-Iqbal">Mustafa Iqbal</keyword> in place of medium pacer Imran Ali. 
 
Brief scores: Lahore Lions 151 for 7 (Shehzad 59; Narine 3 for 9) lose to <keyword id="6354925" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Kolkata">Kolkata</keyword> Knight Riders 153 for 6 in 19.3 overs (Gambhir 60; Cheema 2 for 42) by four wickets

T20 Cricket : KKR Overcome Late Wickets To Beat Lions

To make the semi-finals of the 2014 <keyword id="56308" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Champions-League-Twenty20">Champions League Twenty20</keyword>, after huffing and puffing their way to 124 for 6, Lahore Lions needed to keep Perth Scorchers to 78 or less, and came close by having them at 62 for 7, but <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/mitchell-marsh//27022">Mitchell Marsh</a> and <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/brad-hogg//1118">Brad Hogg </a>denied them with a punchy partnership of 68. In what proved an engrossing low-scorer dominated by spin, and at a venue that has witnessed a few famous spin-induced collapses in Test cricket, Lions threatened to smother Scorchers by taking pace off the ball but ended up losing thanks to the combined efforts of a 22-year old expected to make his Test debut for Australia in a few weeks, and a 43-year-old who has found an extended lease of his athletic life thanks to T20.

	 
	Defending a poor total, which came from the poorer depths of 11 for 4 thanks to a solid half-century from their most consistent batsman of the tournament, <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/saad-nasim//7360">Saad Nasim</a>, Pakistan’s domestic T20 champions applied the squeeze but ran out of fire against Hogg and Marsh. The crucial hit came off the bat of Hogg, who lofted a full toss from Adnan Rasool over long-on to take Scorchers to 80 in the 14th over, thereby ending Lions’ campaign and ensuring <keyword id="13886" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Chennai-Super-Kings">Chennai Super Kings</keyword> would join <keyword id="6354467" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Kolkata-Knight-Riders">Kolkata Knight Riders</keyword> from Group A in the knock-outs.

	 
	Lions fought hard through their phalanx of slow bowlers on a spicy surface. Hafeez accounted for Craig Simmons (0) and Ashton Agar (5) in a tremendous effort of 4-0-8-2, not allowing the batsmen room to work with; Mustafa Iqbal bowled Cameron Bancroft (22) and had Ashton Turner spooning to mid-on; Nasim came on and with his second ball got Hilton Cartwright stumped with a ripping leg break. At 62 for 7, Scorchers were staring at defeat.

	 
	Enter Hogg, however, who smacked 16 off his first eight balls faced to leave Lions stunned. The blows came during the 14th over bowled by Rasool, with the 43-year-old Hogg going over extra cover, backward of point and into the sight screen. Three balls, 14 runs, all over for Lions. A brief celebration done, Hogg and Marsh got down to finishing off their chase. Marsh finished 63 from 38 balls, and Hogg collected 28 off 19.

	 
	The root cause of Lions’ exit was a shoddy batting performance, second to when they were bowled out for 98 against Northern Knights during the Qualifiers. Few teams recover from the loss of four wickets for 11 runs inside four overs, and then losing half their side by ten. <a href="http://www.gocricket.com/player/joel-paris//76013">Joel Paris</a> picked up two wickets either side of a surprise rain interruption in an opening over that spanned 45 minutes, and stand-in captain Marsh bounced out two wickets in as many overs to leave Lions hemorrhaging.

	 The match began with excitement, as Paris removed Nasir Jamshed third ball, flicking to the lone fielder in the deep on the legside. No sooner had the ball found its way into Hogg’s palms at deep square leg, rain slipped through the sunlight to send the teams off the field for almost 30 minutes. Three balls into the resumption, Paris went straight through Umar Siddiq’s wild heave - the opener came in for <keyword id="135589" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Ahmed-Shehzad">Ahmed Shehzad</keyword>, out with a sore throat - and finished the first over with two wickets for two runs. That became 3 for 2 when Marsh brought himself on and picked up Hafeez for 0, the Lions’ skipper chopping a short ball onto his stumps. Wahab Riaz sauntered in at No 5 ahead of Umar Akmal, Lions’ match-winner with the bat from their last game, but he lasted four balls before finding long-on off Marsh, for 0. Akmal (28) added 48 with Nasim, who found an ally in Mohammad Saeed to double the score from 54 for 5, but ultimately Lions did not have enough runs to script a famous win.

	 
	Brief scores: Perth Scorchers 130 for 7 in 19 overs (<keyword id="101031" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Mitchell-Marsh">Mitchell Marsh</keyword> 69*, <keyword id="10143" type="PERSON" weightage="80" keywordseo="Brad-Hogg">Brad Hogg</keyword> 28*) beat Lahore Lions 124 for 6 in 20 overs (Saad Nasim 69*, Joel Paris 3/22) by three wickets

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T20 Cricket : KKR Overcome Late Wickets To Beat Lions

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Scorchers Down Lions, CSK Progress

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