Rain washed away Kolkata Knight Riders' dream for a semifinal berth in the Indian Premier League at the Feroz Shah Kotla grounds Thursday. Persistent rain caused their match against the Delhi Daredevils to be abandoned without a ball being bowled, leaving Kolkata the third team to be out of the reckoning. And the result guaranteed the Kings XI Punjab, a berth in the final four. The washout leaves Delhi with a must-win situation in its remaining fixture against the Mumbai Indians at the Feroz Shah Kotla - a fixture that is threatened, again by bad weather. This is Delhi's second straight home game to be affected by rain. Last Saturday, it lost after Punjab blasted 94 in eight overs to win on the Duckworth/Lewis method. Court acquits former Lanka cricket chief An appeal court on Thursday overturned a two-year prison term for breaking immigration law and dropped all charges against former cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala. Sumathipala, 43, was found guilty in April 2007 of forging travel documents to take alleged underworld leader Dhammika Amarasinghe to England to watch the 1999 World Cup. After a four-year legal tussle, he was also fined 50,000 rupees ($470). But the appeal court acquitted Sumathipala, who chaired Sri Lanka's Board of Control for Cricket until 2005, without providing any explanation at the hearing. Pending the appeal, Sumathipala is out on bail after paying a cash bond of 10,000 rupees ($94).
