java - IntelliJ: SpringBoot-gradle application fails with "Could not open ServletContext resource" -

a spring boot application (uses gradle) setup in intellij starts no exceptions. however, on hitting requests via browser/postman throws internal server error.

the application works perfect when started commandline via

./gradlew bootrun

the exception stack trace says:

caused by: java.io.filenotfoundexception: not open servletcontext resource [/web-inf/dispatcherservlet-servlet.xml] @ org.springframework.web.context.support.servletcontextresource.getinputstream(servletcontextresource.java:141) @ org.springframework.beans.factory.xml.xmlbeandefinitionreader.loadbeandefinitions(xmlbeandefinitionreader.java:330)

i suspect not right (on classpath) when application started inside intellij - 14.

any pointers appreciated.