Indian Premier League: Kolkata Knight Riders thrash Pune Warriors

Skipper Gautam Gambhir hit a half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed IPL bottom side Pune Warriors by 46 runs at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium on Thursday.

The visitors posted 152-6 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 66-2 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 Lakshmipathy Balaji took 3-19 and Kallis, Iqbal Abdulla and Sunil Narine took two wickets apiece in the convincing win.