Jaipur, May 1:: Skipper Sourav Ganguly's fighting half century went in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders succumbed to their third consecutive loss, going down by 45 runs to Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League tie at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday.

Chasing 197 for victory, the Knight Riders were bundled out for 151 in 19.1 overs and Ganguly's 51-run knock and David Hussey's 30-ball 42 were the only highlights of yet another dismal batting performance by the Kolkata team.

For the Jaipur team, the trio of Shane Watson (2/22), Sohail Tanvir (2/30) and Siddharth Trivedi (2/31) never allowed the Kolkatans to settle down.

The visitors also had some poor running between the wickets to blame for their fall as three of their batsmen were run out in the match, which marks their third successive loss after reverses against Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians.

Pakistani Salman Butt opened the innings for the Knight Riders in the absence of Kiwi Brendon McCullum but could hardly get a look in before Tanvir castled him for seven in the second over.

Ajit Agarkar didn't last long either and became Jaipur skipper Shane Warne's only victim of the match after hitting a couple of sixes in his 13-ball 20.

Ganguly held the other end but with wickets tumbling around him, the asking rate kept climbing adding to the pressure on the left-hander.