Jacques Kallis carried his bat through the innings for an unbeaten 65 but the Royal Challengers Bangalore were unable to defend their paltry score of 135-7 and received a seven wicket thrashing from the Kolkata Knight Riders.
In front of a heaving Eden Gardens crowd,
Angelo Mathews grabbed 4-19 while left arm spinner Murali Karthik chipped win with 2 -22 as Kolkata began their campaign with victories over both of last year’s finalists.
Kallis, who arrived from South Africa only after playing the Pro20 final on Friday evening, and Rahul Dravid, put on 38 after the team had slumped to 35-4.
In reply, Manoj Tiwary and Brad Hodge effectively sealed the contest with an opening stand of 101.
Tiwary took apart Kallis for 14 runs from four balls on his way to an even half century.
Hodge also fell for 50 while skipper Saurav Ganguly was left unbeaten on 23.
Left arm spinner Roelof van der Merwe picked up two wickets for 27 runs.
