What a match it has been for Lord Shardhul Thakur! Royal Challengers Banglore(RCB) prepared for Andrew Russel and Shardhul Thakur came out of the syllabus, writes Tummalapalli Nithya
Kolkata was ready for the ninth match of IPL 2023. King Khan arrived at the Eden Gardens Stadium last night. Apart from the well-formulated half-century from Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the team struggled at the crease. Captain Nitesh Rana and Andrew Russel’s performance wasn’t something to brag about. Shardhul Thakur comes to the rescue with his magnificent performance, scoring 68 runs from just 29 balls. That was the fastest 50 scores in IPL 2023 after Jos Buttler. Rinku Singh stole the show with his well-timed boundaries, scoring 46 runs from 33 balls. His perfect ending gave the team 204 runs in 20 overs.
Complete dominance was exerted by Kolkata Knight Riders(KKR) last night. RCB struggled on the pitch. All the star players, along with the captain himself, failed to perform well last night. The team scored a few boundaries, but they weren’t enough to take RCB to victory. Varun Chakravarthy left little chance for them to win with his beautiful 4-wicket haul. RCB’s opening batters brawled, and middle-order and tail-ender batters were gone soon. Impact player for KKR Suyash Sharma indeed created an impact with his 3-wicket haul. The confidence this youngster had was impressive. Brilliant bowling from KKR eliminated RCB for 123 runs.
It was KKR’s show last night. Lord Shardhul’s performance turned the match with a dramatic twist. Not to forget Rinku Sharma’s show, with the bat, in the death overs. Varun Chakravarthy stood as a star with his bowling and field presence. The impact player Suyash Sharma and Sunil Narine did great with the ball. The team has bagged an outstanding victory with a difference of 81 runs.
