With the Knight Riders having already booked their spot in the semi-finals and the Dolphins yet to win, Monday's match in Hyderabad was somewhat of a dead rubber.
But there was plenty of entertainment for those in attendance in the Group A clash, with Uthappa (85) and Pandey's (76) superb partnership guiding the Knight Riders to 187-2 from their 20 overs.
The Dolphins fought in vain to chase down the total, but Knight Riders off-spinner Sunil Narine tore through their middle order to finish with figures of 3-33.
The Knight Riders batted first on an inviting wicket and were going steady until Gautam Gambhir (12) and Jacques Kallis (6) fell in quick succession to leave the Indian Premier League franchise on 34-2.
That was as good as it got for the Dolphins bowling attack, though, as Uthappa and Pandey found the boundary with consummate ease, the pair combining for 18 fours, while Pandey smacked five sixes.
Pandey's final maximum came in the final over when he opened up and smashed Kyle Abbott's delivery over deep midwicket.
Chasing 188 for the win, the Dolphins were up against from the off when Cameron Delport (0) and Cody Chetty (1) fell within the first eight deliveries.
Vaughn van Jaarsveld (19) and Morne van Wyk (34) then combined for 47 but the pair fell within the space of seven balls for just four runs.
Dolphins launched another mini-revival when middle-order duo Khaya Zondo (32) and Andile Phehlukwayo (37) put on 63.
Narine soon took centre stage, though, first bowling Phehlukwayo before removing Robbie Frylinck (11) and Zondo in consecutive deliveries in the 17th over.
With time running out the lower order failed to trouble the scoreboard and Dolphins could only make 151-8 from their allocated overs.