Kings XI Punjab 170/9 (20/20 ov); Kolkata Knight Riders 171/2 (16.3/20 ov)
Kolkata Knight Riders won by 8 wickets (with 21 balls remaining)
Kolkata Knight Riders powered to an eight-wicket victory over Kings XI Punjab at Eden Gardens to move top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) table.
The visitors were put in to bat by Kolkata and they were soon struggling as Sunil Narine, debutant Colin de Grandhomme and Piyush Chawla picked up the wickets of Marcus Stoinis, Hashim Amla and Manan Vohra respectively.
Then it was the turn of India paceman Umesh Yadav, who missed the first two matches for Kolkata.
It was as if he had never been away as he picked up four wickets for 33 runs, and narrowly missed out on a hat-trick.
__________________________________
Read more
■ Talking points: Samson would do well to avoid going down same route as bad boy Sreesanth
__________________________________
No Punjab batsman broke 30 runs as Glenn Maxwell and Vohra were top scorers on 28 each as Kings XI finished their innings on 170-9.
Narine, normally known for his skills with the ball rather than the bat, opened the batting for Kolkata and he soon had the scoreboard ticking over alongside Gautam Gambhir as the hosts relentlessly went after their target.
They were two-thirds of the way there after only 10 overs.
Narine went on 37 runs when he was caught by Axar Patel off the bowling of Varun Aaron.
However, Gambhir was settled as he secured his 33rd fifty in the IPL in the 14th over to take him joint top of the half-century charts alongside David Warner of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Axar accounted for Robin Uthappa but could not dislodge Gambhir or Manish Pandey (25).
The captain finished unbeaten on 72 as Kolkata reached their target with ease with 21 balls remaining, Pandey smashing a six off the final ball to secure the points.
They leapfrogged Punjab, Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians to go top of the standings on net run rate.
There are two games Friday as Royal Challengers Bangalore host Mumbai before Gujarat Lions take on Rising Pune Supergiant in Rajkot.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/TheNationalSport
