The Northern Knights unbeaten Champions League T20 run has come to a halt after a crushing 86 run defeat at the hands of the Hobart Hurricanes.

Overnight the New Zealand side never came close to the 178 target posted by the Australian side, all out for a meagre 92 runs.

The Northern Knights look to run out a Canterbury Wizards batsman at Bay Oval. Photo: File.

The Knights breezed through to the main draw of the championship with three qualifying wins and another in the opening match of pool play.

Leading the way have been captain Daniel Flynn and Kane Williamson with the bat while the tandem pace attack of Trent Boult and Tim Southee were proving a handful.

But this was nowhere to be seen in Raipur with the Hurricanes laying their claim for a place in the semifinals lead by in-form batsman Aiden Blizzard's 62 off 43 balls.

Put into bat, the Hurricanes recovered from a slow start and some disciplined Knights bowling, 29 for one before the field restrictions were eased, with a superbly paced innings from Blizzard and Shoaib Malik providing the backbone.

Hurricanes skipper Tim Paine was the first to show signs of intent; identifying Scott Kuggeleijn as the bowler to milk scoring five boundaries off him.

Dismissed in the 11th over while attempting to hit leg-spinner Ish Sodhi out of the park instead finding the safe hands of Boult at long-off; Paine made 43 and hit six fours and a six in his 34-ball outing.

The partnership between him and Blizzard – lasting 5.2 overs - was worth 47 runs.

Reaching the 100-run mark in the 15th over, this is when both Blizzard and Malik cut loose.

Malik was the first to step on the accelerator; he hit Scott Styris for two boundaries and a six as the 16th over produced 19 runs.

The left-handed Blizzard, who was dropped when he had just two runs against his name, joined in next, picking 13 off the 17th over bowled by Boult.

The onslaught on Boult, who had a poor day in the office, continued into the 19th over as the Blizzard hit four boundaries and Malik picked up one in an over that yielded 21 runs – the most productive over of the innings. Blizzard perished at the start of the final over when an attempted slash landed in the hands of the short thirdman fielder.

After consuming 28 balls for his first 27 runs, the left-hander scored the next 35 runs in 15 balls to finish with 62 from 43 balls.

The 32-year-old Malik too paced his innings beautifully; from 19 off 13 balls, he added 26 from the nine deliveries to eventually finish unbeaten on 45 from 22 balls. The third wicket pair added exactly 100 over a period of 8.2 overs and were chiefly responsible in helping their team finish at 178 for 3.

After keeping the pressure on the Hurricanes batsmen for 15 overs, the wheels came off the Knights bowling, conceding 76 runs in the last five overs.

The Knights run-chase began on a disastrous note with Ben Laughlin pulling off a sensational catch to dismiss in-form opener Anton Devcich in the second over.

The experienced Ben Hilfenhaus then dismissed Kane Williamson and Daniel Flynn in the third over to leave the Knights' chase in disarray.

But for a defiant innings from Scott Styris (37 from 27 balls) and some bit-hitting towards the end by Southee (21), the Knights never really posed a threat in their run-chase.

The Knights were eventually bowled out for 92 in 16.4 overs.

The loss means the Knights must look at winning their remaining two pool matches to be in with a chance to qualify for the semifinals.