Callum Ferguson struck 70 off just 40 balls and put on 84 runs for the fourth wicket with Daniel Christian (42 off 31) as South Australia Redbacks comfortably beat the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 19 runs in a Group B clash at the 2011 Champions League Twenty20 competition on Tuesday.
The last nine overs of the Redbacks innings produced 111 runs as they ended up with an imposing total of 188/5 off their twenty overs.
The score proved to be well beyond the reach of KKR who could only manage 169/9 to fall well short of their winning target.
Fireworks by Ryan ten Doeschate (32 off 19) and RajatBhatia (21 off 22) towards the end of the innings saved Kolkata the embarassment of a heavy defeat, however the Redbacks were never at any stage threatened by the opposition batsmen.
ManojTiwary was the highest scorer for KKR scoring 40 off 31 balls with two fours and as many sixes.
Gary Putland (3/31) and Daniel Harris (3/42) shone with the ball for South Australia sharing six wickets between them.
For KKR, it their second consecutive defeat after having lost to Somerset by five wickets in their tournament opener.
On the other hand, the win opened South Australia's account in the tournament following their 50-run loss to Warriors in the opening match.
Chasing the steep target, KKR were never in the hunt as they lost wickets at regular intervals.
KKR's chase started on a shaky note, losing three wickets including captain GautamGambhir, inside the 50-run mark.
Opener ManvinderBisla (13) showed promise hitting Nathan Lyon for three fours in the first over before he was cleaned up by Kane Richardson in the next.
Shakib Al Hasan (13) and Gambhir (9) failed to live upto their reputation and were dismissed cheaply as KKR slumped to 51 for three after seven overs.
Jacques Kallis (20) and Tiwary raised visions of a fightback stitching 35 runs off 25 balls for the fourth wicket before the former was snared caught and bowled by Harris.
Big-hitting Yusuf Pathan (5) and Tiwary then departed in consecutive overs to make life difficult for KKR.
But towards the end, Ten Doeschate and RajatBhatia played good little cameos to bring down the defeat margin for KKR.
Earlier, Ferguson scored an unbeaten half-century while Christian made a quickfire 42 to help South Australia post the challenging total on a slow Rajiv Gandhi stadium wicket.
Ferguson mixed caution with aggression to anchor the South Australia innings. He struck five boundaries and four sixes during his unconquered knock.
The 48-ball 84-run fourth-wicket stand between Ferguson and Christian was the highlight of South Australia innings.
Christian matched his partner stroke for stroke and hit four fours and two sixes during his 27-ball stay.
For KKR, Laxmipathy Balaji picked up two wickets for 27 runs.
Opting to bat, captain Micheal Klinger and Harris gave a brisk start to South Australia's innings raising 40 runs in just five overs.
But just when it was time to capitalise both the batsmen gave away their wickets.
While Harris miscued a cross-bated heave to give a simple catch to Iqbal Abdullah off Balaji's bowling, Klinger was run out in search of a risky single.
Cameron Borgas (14 off 13) too departed early, caught by Balaji at deep square leg off Pathan.
Ferguson, however, grabbed with both hands the life he got in the 13th over on individual score of 18 when Kallis dropped him at the long-on boundary off Pathan.
Ferguson added salt to Pathan's wound by spanking him for three boundaries and a six to pick up 20 runs of his next and innings' 15th over.
Christian was not to be left behind as he hit Abdullah for a four and six to notch up 15 runs of the next over.
Both the batsmen used their long handle to great effect towards the end to score a mammoth 50 runs of the last three overs.
Redbacks skipper Michael Klinger won the toss and elected to bat first as both teams looked to get their first victory in the main draw of the tournament.
While KKR went into the match with an unchanged side, the Redbacks left out Shaun Tait and Adil Rashid from their playing eleven.
