Rajasthan Royals scored a convincing six wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League at Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Tuesday.

Kolkata were restricted to 147-8, but Rajasthan came back to win despite being in a spot of bother at 69-4 at one stage.

Yusuf Pathan (48*) and Mohammad Kaif (34*) added an unbeaten 81 off 41 balls to guide Royals home.

Earlier, the visitors decided to field first and had the hosts under control as Sohail Tanvir and Munaf Patel shared five wickets between them to halt the Kolkata charge.

Kolkata, who were in a must-win situation, were provided the stability by their skipper Ganguly (32) and Das (31), but the rest failed to deliver and the Royals ensured they weren's chasing many.

For the Royals, the chase began on a slippery note once opener Swapnil Asnodkar (5) and pinch-hitter Sohail Tanvir (13) were out and Smith too followed for 24 as Gul picked two wickets and bowled a maiden over to reduce his rivals at 42-3.

Kaif and Shane Watson (19) then added 27 for the 4th wicket until Ganguly got rid of the Australian. At this stage, Kolkata were in with a chance to pull off a possible win, but Kaif and Pathan had other ideas.

Pathan, who smashed 48 off 18 balls hit 5 fours and 3 sixes to guide the visitors to a superb win with 21 balls to spare.

Rajasthan
G Smith c Saha b Gul 24
S Asnodkar c Saha b I Sharma 5
S Tanvir c Butt b Gul 13
M Kaif not out 34
S Watson b Ganguly 19
Y Pathan not out 48
Extras: 7 ( b:0 lb:4 nb:0 w:3)
Total: 150-4 (16.3) | Curr. RR: 9.09

FOW: S Asnodkar (16-1, 2), S Tanvir (42-2, 5.2), G Smith (42-3, 5.5), S Watson (69-4, 9.5)

Kolkata
A Dinda 4 0 32 0
I Sharma 3 0 23 1
A Agarkar 3 0 30 0
U Gul 3.3 1 30 2
*S Ganguly 2 0 24 1
L Shukla 1 0 7 0

Kolkata
S Butt lbw b Patel 24
M Hafeez c Asnodkar b Patel 4
*S Ganguly c Kaif b Trivedi 32
D Hussey b Y Pathan 11
D Das b Tanvir 31
L Shukla c Asnodkar b Tanvir 15
W Saha not out 11
A Agarkar run out Jadeja) 5
U Gul c Kaif b Tanvir 7
I Sharma not out 2
Extras: 5 ( b:0 lb:2 nb:0 w:3)
Total: 147-8 (20) | Curr. RR: 7.35

FOW: M Hafeez (7-1, 1.4), S Butt (40-2, 6.4), D Hussey (71-3, 11.5), *S Ganguly (95-4, 14.4), D Das (118-5, 17.3), L Shukla (123-6, 18), A Agarkar (129-7, 18.3), U Gul (142-8, 19.3)

Rajasthan
S Tanvir 4 0 26 3
M Patel 4 1 22 2
S Watson 4 0 36 0
S Trivedi 3 0 26 1
S Warne 3 0 21 0
Y Pathan 2 0 14 1

MAN OF THE MATCH: YUSUF PATHAN (RAJASTHAN ROYALS)