Seven. That is the number of times Kings XI Punjab had been bowled out before tonight. None of them has been for below 100. Their revamped top six seemed to have cracked Twenty20 batting. Tonight though, their firepower was doused by a relentless bowling performance from Chennai Super Kings.
There were four ducks, only five batsmen could muster double-figures and the match turned out to be a brutally one-sided affair that culminated in Super Kings making their seventh final.
Their trophy cabinet had last been updated three years ago and MS Dhoni wanted his side to convert the opportunities they create. He was just as conscious of wanting his batsmen to assess the pitch and react accordingly.
Dwayne Bravo took his captain's words to heart.
He did not have a solid base to work from, having come in with the score at 41 for 3. Steadying the innings was the priority and that was taken care of by a 65-run partnership with Faf du Plessis.
Then Kings XI forced the innings to repair with Parvinder Awana's hat-trick, that was capped with the wicket of MS Dhoni for a first-ball duck in the 17th over.
The score was a healthy 141 but a major source of acceleration had been muted and Bravo was left with much of the finishing duties too. He changed his game to suit that need as well. He slashed, drove, cut and flicked to score 67 of only 39 balls and was the primary reason Super Kings managed 182 for 7.
Kings XI would not have been perturbed by that target. George Bailey, their captain, had said the pitch was "beautiful." It received similar plaudits ahead over the evening game as well. But when play got underway, it showed itself to be on the slower side.
Strokeplay would not be unduly difficult though and Kings XI have hunted 180-plus totals nine out of 11 times. However, adding to that tally is difficult when you lose four wickets inside the Powerplay.
Ashish Nehra and Mohit Sharma delivered a telling spell. They did not threaten with undue pace. There was barely any swing on offer. The only thing they could do was be accurate. Their efforts were underpinned by a ruthless display on the field. Brendon McCullum dived low to his left to pull off a screamer to knock over Virender Sehwag for nought.
Du Plessis, having been teased twice before, successfully tracked down a skier from the other opener Manan Vohra. Wriddhiman Saha wore a nasty hit on the helmet before losing his off stump. And Glenn Maxwell feathered a short ball down the leg side.
Kings XI tumbled from 24 for 4 to 34 for 6 in the eighth over. David Miller was left to tackle an abominable equation of 149 needed off 75 balls. It was far too much of an ask, especially with Super Kings' wealth of spinners and Kings XI were bowled out for their second-lowest total.
"It was the complete game," Dhoni said. He, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith and Suresh Raina had totaled only 26 runs between them. By the end of the night that only highlighted how strong Super Kings had been.
Kolkata Knight Riders 141 for 3 (Kallis 54*, Pandey 40) beat Hobart Hurricanes 140 for 6 (Malik 66*) by 7 wickets
Kolkata Knight Riders took their winning streak to 14, the joint second-highest in Twenty20 history, and made it to their first Champions League T20 final after the spinners reduced Hobart Hurricanes to 140 for 6. Having lost captain Tim Paine to a stomach bug, Hurricanes had to contend with 16 overs of spin, including the opening spell of Yusuf Pathan.
They couldn't break free of their chokehold, reaching 140 thanks only to Shoaib Malik's late surge. Knight Riders, however, made a bit of heavy weather of the chase, with Jacques Kallis and Yusuf getting stuck in the end, bringing the equation up to 21 off 13 before finishing it off with five balls to spare.
Knight Riders stuck to their winning formula after the stand-in Hurricanes captain Xavier Doherty chose to bat on what looked like a flat hard pitch. By the time Yusuf sent down the first over, it was obvious it was a pitch slower than expected.
Andre Russell provided the first breakthrough by latching on to a tough leading edge off his own bowling, with Dom Michael being undone by the slowness of the surface. In the next over, Hurricanes' batsman of the tournament, Aiden Blizzard got a rough decision, given lbw off a thick inside edge.
From then on it was going to be a catch-up game for Hurricanes.
Knight Riders made sure they didn't take too many liberties by bringing on their two attacking spinners, Sunil Narine and Kuldeep Yadav, one after the other. As a result, Hurricanes had to be watchful, crawling to 54 for 3 in 10 overs, their lowest 10-over score of the tournament. Ben Dunk did majority of the scoring in the first half, but Kuldeep accounted for him.
It was down to Malik, their best player of the spin, to provide them some sort of fighting total. Malik obliged, taking 21 runs off the 19th over, bowled by Kuldeep, but the support from the other side was hard to come by. Take out 105 from 75 balls scored between Malik and Dunk, you have precious nothing from the rest of the team.
However, the rest of the team was spirited in defence of the small target. The fast bowlers, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger, got stuck into Gautam Gambhir and had him early. An adventurous shot off Doherty accounted for Robin Uthappa, and Knight Riders were 44 for 2 off 44 legal deliveries. Kallis then provided the solidness, and Manish Pandey gave them the impetus by peppering his favourite wide long-on area. Hurricanes didn't help their own case with three missed run-outs, and Pandey's wicket off a no-ball.
The free hit went for four, followed by another, bringing the equation down to 49 off 42. When Pandey holed out to long-on in the 16th over, he left Knight Riders just 34 off 28. The next 15 balls were mostly yorkers, conceded just 13, drew some frustrated shots from Yusuf and Kallis, and the game was in the balance with 21 required off 13. Ben Laughlin then failed to execute his yorker with the last ball of the 18th over, and Yusuf crashed it through extra cover.
Doherty was now left with a big decision. He and Bollinger had an over each left, and he went against the conventional wisdom to bowl the 19th himself. Kallis stepped out first ball, and crashed him for a six first up. That was game done for all practical purposes, but Hilfenhaus provided the finishing touch by parrying off the first ball of the 20th over for a six after having misjudged a catch.
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