Pune Warriors surrender meekly to Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata Knight Riders crushed hosts Pune Warriors  by 46 runs at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium here on Thursday.

After skipper Gautam Gambhir scored a polished 50 (44 balls, 6x4) to take Kolkata Knight Riders to 152/6,  his bowlers, led by L Balaji (3/19), dismissed the hosts for 106 in 19.3 overs.

Earlier, the visitors were off to a flying start, but a slew of wickets put them on the back foot. Ryan ten Doeschate (31, 21 balls, 3x4, 1x6), Manoj Tiwary (15, 10 balls, 2x4) and Rajat Bhatia (13, 5 balls, 1x4, 1x6) then helped hem recover and post a decent total.

Pune struck at regular intervals to keep the scoring rate under check. Gambhir and Manvinder Bisla put up a swift 45-run partnership for the opening wicket before Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed the latter for 12. Later, J&K all-rounder Parvez Rasool got the prized wicket of Jacques Kallis (2). Playing his first IPL game, Rasool also restricted the flow of runs with his quicker and flatter deliveries. Mitchell Marsh was also impressive and the Aussie removed Gambhir immediately after the left-hander registered his 20th IPL fifty. Bhuvneshwar dismissed Yusuf Pathan for three.