Abu Dhabi, Oct 10 (IANS): Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Dinesh Karthik finally found form with the bat as he smashed 58 off 29 balls to take his side to 164/4 against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium here on Saturday.

It was Karthik's first half-century in the ongoing IPL season, while Shubman Gill (57) too raced to his second fifty of the tournament.

Mohammed Shami (1/30) provided the breakthrough for KXIP with the wicket of opener Rahul Tripathi (4) in the second over. Soon after, a mix-up led to the run out of Nitish Rana (2).

Eoin Morgan then joined Gill and tried to steady the ship for KKR, but couldn't last long as he was dismissed in 11th over off Ravi Bishnoi for 24. Karthik then came out all guns blazing and gave KKR some much-needed momentum. He put up 82 runs for the fourth wicket with Gill, scoring most of the runs before the latter was run out in the 18th over for a 47-ball 57.

Karthik nearly played through the innings but was run out off the last ball of the KKR innings.

Brief scores: KKR 164/6 in 20 overs (Dinesh Karthik 58, Shubman Gill 57; Arshdeep Singh 1/25)