Rajasthan knocked out; Chennai into IPL semis

Kolkata Knight Riders knocked out defending champion Rajasthan Royals in a four-wicket victory in the Indian Premier League at Kingsmead on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings successfully defended 116-9 to beat Kings XI Punjab by 24 runs and join league-leading Delhi Daredevils in Friday's semifinals.

The last two spots will be determined on Thursday when third-placed Deccan Chargers meet fourth-placed Bangalore Royal Challengers. The winner will advance and the loser should, too, with a decent run rate.

Both teams and Punjab had 14 points, but Punjab had the worst run rate.

Delhi meets the already eliminated Mumbai Indians in the first game of Thursday's doubleheader at Pretoria.

Last-placed Kolkata played spoiler to Rajasthan with its second straight win and only its third in 14 games.

Laxmi Shukla hit an unbeaten 48 while Charl Langeveldt took three wickets to lead Kolkata to victory with three balls to spare.

"It's really disappointing but we were just not good enough the whole tournament," said Rajasthan captain Shane Warne.

After a disciplined fielding performance to restrict Rajasthan to 101-9, Kolkata stuttered in reply at 45-6 and it seemed as though Rajasthan would waltz into the semis.

But man-of-the-match Shukla cracked three boundaries and two sixes in 46 balls, and shared a match-winning unbeaten stand of 57 with Ajit Agarkar, who was 13 not out.

"Every game in the series has gone down to the last over and today was not different," said Kolkata captain Brendon McCullum. "We bowled really well but put ourselves under pressure with the bat. But Shukla and Ajit were brilliant to take us home."

Later, Chennai reaffirmed its credentials as a series favorite by eking out a 24-run win over Punjab when it looked like losing.

Defending only 116-9, Chennai star Muttiah Muralitharan, the all-time leading test wicket-taker, put the Punjab batsmen under pressure to take 2-8 in four overs as Punjab limped to finish on 92-8.

Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin, playing in his first match of the series, claimed 2-13 while Suresh Raina ended with 2-17. Opening bowler Thilan Thushara gave Chennai a good start, taking 2-28.

"The spinners did a good job for us," said Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. "We picked Ashwin today and he was brilliant throughout. Murali put pressure on the opposition and Raina also bowled well."

Luke Pomersbach topscored with 26 in a shaky chase by Punjab.

"We had a good start, we just needed to get partnerships going," Punjab captain Yuvraj Singh said. "We didn't get partnerships going and the wicket was not easy to bat on."

But Singh admitted his team batted poorly after the bowlers had given the team a good platform.

"When you get in such strong positions you need to nail the opposition," he said.