Knight Riders too strong for Pune

Captain Gautam Gambhir's fine half-century and three key wickets from seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji stood at the fore of the Kolkata Knight Riders' 46-run triumph over the Pune Warriors' in Thursday's Indian Premier League fixture at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium.

Captain Gautam Gambhir's fine half-century and three key wickets from seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji stood at the fore of the Kolkata Knight Riders' 46-run triumph over the Pune Warriors' in Thursday's Indian Premier League fixture at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium.

The visitors posted 152 for six from their 20 overs before the Warriors were all out for 106 in 19.3 overs, with Angelo Mathews top-scoring with 40.

The Knight Riders won the toss and elected to bat, with man-of-the-match Gambhir setting the tone by hitting two boundaries off Krishnakant Upadhyay in the second over.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar had Manvinder Bisla stumped for 12 in the sixth over – the first of his three victims – before Parvez Rasool had Jacques Kallis caught at cover for two as the Knight Riders reached 66 for two at the halfway stage.

Eoin Morgan hit 15 before falling to Mitchell Marsh, who then got Gambhir caught on 50 by Mathews with the score on 90.

Ryan ten Doeschate helped propel the innings with a quick-fire 31 but top-edged to Upadhyay before unbeaten pair Manoj Tiwary (15) and Rajat Bhatia (13) blasted the visitors up to 152.

In response, only Mathews and Robin Uthappa (31) reached double figures for the hosts, as Balaji took three for 19 and Kallis, Iqbal Abdulla and Sunil Narine took two wickets apiece in the convincing win.