Captain Gautam Gambhir and Brendon McCullum shared a decisive 113-run opening stand as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Pune Warriors by seven runs while Shane Watson boosted Rajasthan Royals to a 43-run win over Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League on Saturday.
At Mohali, Australia allrounder Watson stood out with a whirlwind 36 off 17 balls with two sixes and four fours as Rajasthan scored a challenging 6-177 after winning the toss.
He then produced a bowling spell of 2-22, which included the wicket of in-form opener Mandeep Singh, to help restrict Punjab to 8-134.
At Eden Gardens, Gambhir struck 56 and McCullum hit 42 as Kolkata set a competitive 5-150 in 20 overs after winning the toss.
The partnership added 100 runs in only 10.2 overs but their dismissals in quick succession on a slower pitch allowed Pune to bounce back.
Warriors captain Sourav Ganguly (36) and allrounder Angelo Mathews (35) led the chase with a 73-run stand for the sixth wicket but they could manage only 8-143 in reply.
Pune started badly as openers Michael Clarke (1) and Robin Uthappa (18) were dismissed by South Africa paceman Marchant de Lange by the fourth over.
It was the fifth consecutive loss for Pune who are second from bottom with four wins and eight losses.
Kolkata are second in the nine-team league with seven wins, three defeats and a no-result.
Rajasthan and Punjab have five wins each from 11 games.
Delhi Daredevils lead the table with eight wins and two losses.