Yusuf consolidated with a smashing 46 from only 24 balls that had three huge sixes and three boundaries once Kallis (40, 42 balls, 3x4) and Gautam Gambhir (48, 38 balls, 6x4) set the platform.
Courtesy some wayward bowling from India speedster Zaheer Khan who conceded 53 from his four overs, KKR got off to a breezy start.
Put into bat under gloomy conditions, Kallis and Brad Haddin zoomed to 33 for no loss from the first two overs with an error-prone Zaheer giving away 19 from his first.
But slow bowlers put brakes on the Knight Riders run-rate as left-arm spinner Syed Mohammad (1/20) impressed on his IPL debut.
He scalped the dangerous looking Haddin to give the first breakthrough.
Brought in place of Brett Lee, Haddin looked to attack as he raced to 18 from 11 balls including one six and two boundaries but his innings was cut short by Syed.
Kallis however batted intelligently as he steadied the innings while Gambhir also showed positive intent.
Looking to put brakes on Gambhir`s innings, Vettori brought in Zaheer for his second spell but the KKR skipper counter-attacked his India teammate hitting him for two boundaries as they took 14 runs from the 10th over of the innings.
On 39, Kallis got a breather after AB de Villers missed a stumping chance but the KKR all-rounder fell to a brilliant catch by Gayle in the very next over.
The duo put on 58 runs from 51 balls for the second wicket to set a launchpad for the Knights who were in command with scoreboard reading 102 for two after 13.2 overs.
It was left for Pathan to entertain the crowd with some lusty hitting.
Two short of a half-century, Gambhir was dismissed by the rookie Sreenath Aravind but Pathan continued with his blitzkrieg to take the Knight Riders score past 150 after 18 overs.
Pathan was brilliantly caught by Virat Kohli at the long off boundary as KKR could manage only 7 runs from the last over.