Laxmi Ratan Shukla turned saviour, producing a superb unbeaten 48 off 46 balls as the Kolkata Knight Riders beat the Rajasthan Royals by four wickets with three balls to spare in Durban on Wednesday. The loss put the defending champions out of reckoning for a semi-final berth. The Knights finished their forgettable campaign with seven points (three wins) from 14 matches, while the Royals have 13.

The Chennai Super Kings confirmed their place in the semis with a win over the Kings XI Punjab in Wednesday’s other match. The Delhi DareDevils have already booked their berth. The remaining two spots will be decided on Thursday from among the Deccan Chargers, the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kings XI Punjab.

While the Shah Rukh Khan and Shilpa Shetty owned franchises have crashed out, Preity Zinta’s side stayed afloat.

The Knight Riders seemed to have made a mess of the 102-run target. Brendon McCullum and Co. will remain thankful to Charl Langeveldt for pinning down the Royals to such a low score.

An impatient start led to the Knight Riders openers being dismissed off consecutive deliveries. The top-order perished due to a lack of application as the Shane Warne-led side bounced back, reducing the Knight Riders to 38 for five at the end of 10 overs.

It almost seemed curtains after the strategy break when Shoaib Sheikh was run out — 56 needed off 51 balls as Ajit Agarkar joined Shukla.

But the pair showed responsibility in adding 57 runs in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand that sealed the Royals’ fate. The Bengal captain’s innings included three fours and two sixes.

Naman Ojha will rue dropping Shukla on 6 off Warne. The two gained in confidence as the partnership blossomed. They never seemed to be in a hurry and waited for the loose deliveries. That, however, didn’t stop them from keeping the scoreboard moving with singles. They needed 21 off the last three overs and showed immense maturity in reaching their target.

Shukla opened up when he went after Warne in the 13th over, and cleared the wide long-on boundary easily. His next assault came in Ravindra Jadeja’s second over, the 16th of the innings. There was no looking back thereafter. The match also involved a ‘battle’ within a battle — Warne versus John Buchanan. For the first time in the IPL, Buchanan beat Warne. The Jaipur franchise had prevailed on three previous occasions.

The Knights’ scorecard tells its own story. After Shukla, the second highest score was Agarkar’s 13 not out.

Langeveldt, who finally got a game in the tournament, returned the most successful bowler (4-0-15-3). Ashok Dinda, Shukla, Sourav Sarkar and Agarkar provided the perfect foil for Langeveldt.

They worked up good pace and did not give the batsmen too much width. The Royals batsmen were squared up by deliveries aimed at the stumps, and in desperation, threw their wickets away. Add to it the Knights’ athletic fielding that resulted in three run outs.

The South African pacer exposed the team management’s blunder in not playing him earlier in the tournament. The first ball Langeveldt bowled was a bouncer that hurried Rob Quiney up. He got the top edge as the ball nestled in wicketkeeper Shoaib’s gloves. The extra pace and bounce was obvious and the movement lethal. In his next over, Langeveldt removed Naman Ojha, with one that kicked up from just short of a length, and moved away, too.

The Royals started with a bang, but failed to sustain the momentum. The dramatic first over yielded 22 runs, including three sixes from Ojha.

Brad Hodge’s first ball was swung over deep square leg for six. Ojha survived a close call off the next as David Hussey floored a regulation chance at square leg. An undeterred Ojha sent the third ball flying over long off for the second six. He then rounded off the over with another six on the last ball.

The euphoria didn’t last long as Quiney, who opened the innings with Ojha, was dismissed at the start of the second over. Swapnil Asnodkar departed in the next over, the victim of a brilliant run out by Ashok Dinda.

As Asnodkar hopped to fend off a delivery aimed at his body, the ball dropped in front of silly point and he set off for a run. Ojha responded but changed his mind midway. A confused Asnodkar turned around and tried to head back, but Dinda sprinted, dived and in one motion, effected the direct hit.

Langeveldt got into the act in the next over. Ojha’s top edge was superbly plucked with one hand by Shoaib in front of first slip. Johan Botha and Niraj Patel didn’t last long and the Royals reached 62 for five at the end of the 10th over.

The strategy break didn’t bring about a change in the Royals’ fortunes. Yusuf Pathan, the hero of their win against the Knight Riders in the first leg, was the victim of another run out, following a horrendous mix-up with Ravindra Jadeja. Shukla kept a close eye on the ball to knock off the stumps at the striker’s end.

Tyron Henderson became the third run-out victim when Hussey was bang on target from quite a distance. Warne’s arrival did bring some sanity as he added 30 runs for the eighth wicket with Jadeja, the highest partnership of the innings. But once Jadeja left, the Royals could only manage two runs off the final over.