Finance
Kolkata Knight Riders were 89/5 in 11.3 overs in their first home game of the IPL 2023 at Eden Gardens. With David Willey and Karn Sharma picking up two wickets in as many balls for Royal Challengers Bangalore, many feared an embarrassing defeat for KKR.
But Shardul Thakur, who nearly got out on his first ball, also the hat-trick ball, as the inside edge went past leg-stump, slammed the season’s joint-fastest fifty in 20 balls in his sensational 68 off 28 deliveries. That stunning turnaround laid the groundwork for KKR to thrash RCB by 81 runs and earn their first victory of the tournament.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz dazzled early on with a stroke-filled 57, while Rinku Singh chipped in with a crucial 46, as well as sharing an important 103-run partnership with Thakur off just 47 balls to propel KKR to a mammoth 204/7.
In response, Kolkata’s three mystery spinners — Varun Chakaravarthy (4/15), Sunil Narine (2/16), and debutant Suyash Sharma (3/30) — bowled out the RCB batters for 123 in 17.4 overs.
Gurbaz began by feasting on Mohammed Siraj’s width or short balls and cutting him through backward point, point, and short third man for boundaries.
Willey, on the other hand, stunned Kolkata by castingling Venkatesh Iyer through the gate with a short delivery angled in from in from around the wicket. On the very next ball, he got a length ball to nip away to beat the outside edge of Mandeep Singh and crash into off-stump.
Gurbaz, on the other hand, was unstoppable, pulling Akash Deep over a short fine leg for six and whacking Willey over the same region for four. Gurbaz Ahmed brought up his fifty after Nitish Rana gloved a reverse sweep to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik off Michael Bracewell.
In the 12th over, Karn led Bangalore’s comeback with back-to-back strikes — Gurbaz reverse-swept to short third man, while Andre Russell holed out to long-off for a golden duck. Then came Thakur, who gave Kolkata’s innings much-needed momentum, hitting two fours and a six off Akash before sweeping off Karn.
He made good use of his feet, slamming Bracewell for a pair of sixes over the mid-wicket fence before flat-batting off Willey for a boundary. Thakur reached his maiden IPL fifty off Harshal Patel with a fierce pull between long-on and deep mid-wicket.
Full tosses, including one above the waist, and half-volleys were easily dispatched for boundaries by Thakur and Rinku, highlighting RCB’s death bowling woes yet again. Despite the fact that Rinku gloved a Harshal bouncer and Thakur pulled to mid-wicket off Siraj, Umesh Yadav hit a four through mid-off to ensure Kolkata crossed the 200-run mark.
Virat Kohli started the chase for 205 by clipping a half-volley outside Umesh’s leg stump for four and ended the opening over with another boundary slashed in the gap between third man and backward point.
In the fourth over, he and Faf du Plessis each hit Tim Southee for two fours and two sixes, totaling 23 runs. However, the Narine-Chakaravarthy-Suyash combination annihilated the RCB challenge.
In the fifth over, Kohli played across the line against Narine, but missed the ball and was castled through the gate. In the next over, du Plessis attempted an expansive drive against a fuller ball from Chakravarthy, but was stumped by an inside edge.
Chakaravarthy’s quicker googly beat the inside edge of Glenn Maxwell to crash into the stumps in his next over. He ended Harshal’s promotion two balls later by extracting an inside edge and crashing into the stumps.
More misery followed Bangalore, as Shahbaz hit a deep point with a reverse sweep off Narine, and half the team was out in 8.5 overs. Bracewell put up two boundaries, but gloved a pull from Thakur to diving short fine leg.
Anuj Rawat attempted a slog sweep against Suyash but was stopped by the short third man. Suyash struck again three balls later when Dinesh Karthik went for the loft, but the outside edge flew to short third man.
Suyash had Karn sweeping to slip in his next over and got his wicket as replays revealed a faint bottom edge. Varun completed a stunning innings by keeping his eyes on the ball and running to mid-wicket to complete a stunning caught and bowled dismissal of Akash.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 204/7 in 20 overs (Shardul Thakur 68, Rahmanullah Gurbaz 57; David Willey 2/16, Karn Sharma 2/26) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 123 all out in 17.4 overs (Faf du Plessis 23, Virat Kohli 21; Varun Chakaravarthy 4/15, Suyash Sharma 3/30) by 81 runs
Source:IANS
