Gautam Gambhir and Manoj Tiwary hit unbeaten 45 and 34 respectively as Kolkata Knight Riders inflicted a crushing eight-wicket defeat on Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday.
The unbeaten 85-run stand between Gambhir and Tiwary enabled Kolkata to chase down the 120-run target in 17.2 overs.
Gambhir hit 4 fours in his 44-ball 45 and Tiwary's 41-ball 34 came with the help of a six and 3 fours.
The partnership came after Ryan Harris took a superb catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Kolkata opener Eoin Morgan off Bhargav Bhatt.
Morgan hit 6 fours in his 15-ball 28 before falling to Bhatt.
Bhatt struck on his first delivery when he had Jacques Kallis caught by David Hussey in the covers as Kolkata got off to a bad start in pursuit of 120 runs.
Earlier, Iqbal Abdulla took 2 wickets as Kolkata restricted Kings XI Punjab to 119/6 despite a well-made 42 from Dinesh Karthik.
Karthik hit 4 fours in his run-a-ball 42 before being run out.
Kings XI Punjab lost their fifth wicket when Abdulla trapped David Hussey plumb in front of the wicket.
Abdulla gave Kolkata the third breakthrough when he clean bowled Punjab captain Adam Gilchrist from between his legs.
Gilchrist looked to pull a short-pitched delivery but the ball neither turned nor bounced and went from between his legs to hit the stumps.
Kolkata lost their fourth wicket when Abhishek Nayar was run out.
Paul Valthaty and Shaun Marsh fell in successive overs as Kings XI Punjab got off to a bad start against Kolkata Knight Riders
Yusuf Pathan gave Kolkata the first breakthrough when he had Paul Valthaty caught by Manoj Tiwary at long-on in the fifth over.
In the next over, Marsh was run out as Punjab lost their second wicket.
This was after Kolkata captain Gautam Gambhir won the toss and chose to bowl.
Kolkata have replaced Jaidev Unadkat with Rajat Bhatia.
Punjab have brought in Bhargav Bhatt in place of Shalabh Srivastava.
Brief scores
Kings XI Punjab 119 for 6 v (Karthik 42, Abdulla 2-19)
Kolkata Knight Riders 120 for 2 (Gambhir 45*, Tiwary 34*)
Results Kolkata Knight Riders won by eight wickets
MOM Iqbal Abdulla (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Kings XI Punjab 0