Gurgaon: Abhishek Jhunjhunwala scored 62 and pacer Abu Nechim bagged four wickets to help Kolkata Tigers defeat Chandigarh Lions by 22 runs and ended their hopes of making it to the semifinals of the Indian Cricket League's (ICL) Twenty20 championship here.

Both teams needed to win to qualify for the semifinals. But for the second successive day, Chandigarh Lions faltered while chasing.

Facing the Tigers 165 for seven wickets in 20 overs, the Lions were all out for 143 in 18.2 overs at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium on Wednesday night. Jhunjhunwala was the star of the Tigers innings, scoring 62 (57 balls, 5x4, 1x6), the lone half-century of the match, while South African Lance Klusener chipped in with 38 off 34 balls. Pacer Andrew Hall, another former South African Test player, captured three wickets for 37.

In reply, Chandigarh Lions batting flopped and only left-handed Tejinder Pal Singh managed a decent score of 34 off 16 balls (2x4, 3x6). Tigers Nechim bowled a winning spell of 4-0-27-4 to help his team win with 10 balls to spare.

Jhunjhunwala and Nechim were adjudged the Men-of-the-Match.

Brief scores: Kolkata Tigers: 165/7 in 20 overs (Abhishek Jhunjhunwala 62, Lance Klusener 38, Andrew Hall 3-37) bt Chandigarh Lions: 143 in 18.2 overs (Tejinder Pal Singh 34, Abu Nechim 4-27, Andrew Adams 3-22) by 22 runs. 

Source : IANS