The sparkling half-tons from Jacques Kallis and skipper Gautam Gambhir led Kolkata Knight Riders to trouble-free 9-wicket conquest over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Champions League Twenty20 Group ‘B’ game, at Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

Justifying Gambhir’s decision to bowl first, Knight Riders’ bowlers made early strikes but skipper Daniel Vettori’s (44) late cameo powered the hosts to 169-9 in allotted overs.

In reply, Kallis (64 not out) and Gambhir (55 not out) developed unbeaten 109-run partnership as visitors chased-down the target with 15 balls to spare, after losing Brad Haddin’s (42) wicket.

This was not only Knight Riders’ first-ever victory in the CLT20, but has also kept alive their slight optimisms of advancing to the knock-out stages.

“We have a lot of talent in the dressing room and today we did well. We have one game in group stages left and we have to maintain the same intensity level. Today Brett and Kallis bowled tremendously in the first six overs,” said Gambhir.

But we have concerns regarding our bowling at the death and that needs to be addressed,” he added.

RCB VS KKR: Hosts’ openers kicked-off briskly

Openers Brad Haddin and Kallis kicked-off the Royal Challengers’ run-chase briskly and raced to 62 in 7 overs before the Australian was snapped by Virat Kohli off Vettori at covers.

Well-set Kallis, alongside Gambhir, made hosts bowling line-up totally ineffective and made speedy proceedings to let their side beyond the target.

Kallis’ 47-ball knock was studded with four boundaries and a six while Gambhir smashed three boundaries and four sixes in his 27-ball cameo

RCB VS KKR: Gayle accumulated 25 off 16 balls

Prior to this, pitiless Chris Gayle (25) got the Royal Challengers innings off to a blasting start and smashed three sixes in his short 18-ball knock before Kallis’ yorker uprooted his middle-stump.

Moments later Brett Lee had Virat Kohli caught by Gambhir for duck as Royal Challengers slumped to 29 for 2.

Twice back-to-back dismissals had dent the hosts but Tillakaratne Dilshan (18) and Saurabh Tiwary (19) shouldered the obligation and tried rebuilding the innings.

The 32-run partnership between the pair was concluded with the dismissal of Tiwary, who was snapped by Ryan Ten Doeschate at covers of Yousuf Pathan’s short-pitched delivery.

In the subsequent over wicketkeeper Haddin stumped Dilshan off Rajat Bhatia to cripple the hosts’ batting line-up.

Iqbal Abdulla then removed Mayank Agarwal (13) and Mohammad Kaif (5) in successive overs.

Kolkata Knight Riders will play their next game against Warriors at the same venue on Saturday.

Royal Challengers Bangalore VS Kolkata Knight Riders Scorecard