Chris Gayle played a belligerent innings as the Kolkata Knight Riders secured an 11-run win on the Duckworth/Lewis method over Kings XI Punjab in a rain-affected Indian Premier League match at Kingsmead, Durban on Wednesday morning.
Gayle, dropped on two and again on 32, briefly dispersed gloomy weather conditions with an unbeaten 44 off only 26 deliveries before rain had the final say.
The Kings XI had made 6-158 and Kolkata had reached 1-79 in 9.2 overs when its innings ended prematurely.
Gayle was dropped on two by Tarun Goel off Yusuf Abdulla in only the second over and again by wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara off Piyush Chawla when on 32.
By the time the rain came down, Gayle had smashed four sixes and two boundaries while putting on 57 for the opening wicket with skipper Brendon McCullum (21).
The Knight Riders also had their moments with the ball and began ominously, with Ishant Sharma turning in a miserly first over - he conceded only one run - under overcast skies.
Ashok Dinda followed up with four dot balls in his first over before Ravi Bopara broke the shackles with consecutive boundaries off the last two deliveries.
Ishant then got rid of the dangerous Goel in his second over, provoking the opener into edging to Gayle at slip, but Goel's replacement, Irfan Pathan, injected some momentum into Kings XI's batting by smashing 32 off only 17 deliveries.
Former captain Sourav Ganguly swung momentum back Kolkata's way with two strikes in his first over. Ganguly got rid of Pathan and then snared Bopara (15) two deliveries later.
Skipper Yuvraj Singh (38) then joined Sangakkara (26) and the two began to rebuild Kings XI's innings.
An extended strategy break due to a touch of rain worked in favour of the Kings XI this time as Yuvraj and Sangakkara began to hit out.
Ganguly, who had conceded only four runs in his first two overs, leaked 14 in his third and Gayle, struggling with a wet ball, conceded just as many in his only over.
Yuvraj and Sangakkara put on 56 runs for the fourth wicket before Sangakkara ran himself out.
A fluent cameo from Mahela Jayawardene (31 not out) got the Kings XI to a competitive total but their depleted bowling attack struggled to rein in Gayle.
Meanwhile, The IPL clash between the Mumbai Indians and the Rajasthan Royals was abandoned without a ball being bowled as persistent rain hit Durban.
Although the covers briefly came off an hour after the scheduled start, the rain began to fall again before the umpires had completed their inspection.
This was due to be the second game of the season for both teams, with Mumbai having beaten Chennai by 19 runs in their opener, while the Royals needed to bounce back after being bowled out for 58 by Bangalore in their opener.