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Pune: Kolkata Knight Riders hung on to their slender hopes of qualifying for the playoffs after outplaying a listless Pune Warriors by 46 runs in their T20 league match on Thursday.
The hosts' batting vulnerabilities were cruelly exposed once again as they failed to overhaul Knights' competitive total of 152 for 6, based on a composed 50 by captain Gautam Gambhir.
Robin Uthappa made an uncharacteristic 31 from 35 balls as the Warriors were bowled out for a pathetic 106 in 19.3 overs.
L Balaji claimed thee scalps while Iqbal Adbulla, Sunil Narine and Jacques Kallis took two each as Pune proved woefully unequal to the task. The defeat was Pune's eighth in a row.
The Kolkata franchise now has 10 points from 13 games and they need to win their remaining three games and hope results from other fixtures favour them to make it to the playoffs.
There was big drama when Uthappa drove Kallis back and the ball hit the stumps at the non-striker's end after 'touching' Kallis' boot.
Kallis claimed a run out as non-striker Aaron Finch was out of his crease but the appeal was negated by the third umpire, leading Kallis to get furious. It was poetic justice when soon, Kallis uprooted Finch's off-stump.
Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir won the toss and decided to bat.
Two changes for Kolkata, Ryan ten Doeschate and Manoj Tiwary comes in. Rasool comes in for Rahul Sharma for Pune.
Teams
Kolkata Knight Riders: Manvinder Bisla (wk), Gautam Gambhir (captain), Jacques Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Manoj Tiwary, Eoin Morgan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Rajat Bhatia, Iqbal Abdulla, Sunil Narine, Lakshmipathy Balaji
Pune Warriors: Robin Uthappa, Aaron Finch (captain), Udit Birla, Yuvraj Singh, Mitchell Marsh, Angelo Mathews, Mahesh Rawat (wk), Parvez Rasool, Wayne Parnell, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Krishnakant Upadhyay
Brief scores
Kolkata Knight Riders 152 for 6 (Gambhir 50, Bhuvneshwar 3-25)
Pune Warriors 106 (Mathews 40, Balaji 3-19)
Result Kolkata Knight Riders won by 46 runs
Points Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Pune Warriors 0
MOM Gautam Gambhir (Kolkata Knight Riders)
