The first semi-final of the 2014 Champions League T20 tournament will take place on Thursday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad.
The Group A winners, the Kolkata Knight Riders are making their third appearance at the CLT20 and have made the semi-finals for the first time, and the Group B runner-up from Australia, the Hobart Hurricanes, who are making their bow at the CLT20 this year.
The Knight Riders took control of Group A by defeating their great IPL rivals the Chennai Super Kings in the opening fixture, and went on to complete a 100% perfect winning record, by also beating Perth Scorchers, Lahore Lions and the Dolphins from South Africa.
The Hurricanes appear to have qualified comfortably in second place behind the Kings XI Punjab, who were the only side that beat them during the group stage.
However, the Australian outfit had to win their last game against the Barbados Tridents to ensure qualification, as a strange sequence of results had kept the Caribbean team in with a chance of making the last four, despite losing their first two games.
Hobart are the only non-Indian side to have made it through to the knockout phase of the tournament, and are seeking to follow the other Australian sides, New South Wales in 2009 and Sydney Sixers in 2012, who have won the CLT20 previously.
The Knight Riders were dealt a potential title damaging blow, with their mystery spinner Sunil Narine, being put on the warning list following reports from the match officials about the West Indian player’s bowling action when delivering his quicker ball, during the match against the Dolphins in Hyderabad.
Kolkata have accepted the decision, and will almost certainly select Narine for Thursday’s semi-final. Being on the warning list allows Narine to continue to play in the competition, but any subsequent offence will see him banned from bowling in any BCCI-conducted tournament.
Narine finished with figures of 3 for 33 against the Dolphins and leads the race for the golden wicket, as the leading wicket taker during the tournament.