Post their defeat against Punjab Kings in Mohali, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have bounced back in fine fashion in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. At their home ground at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, KKR registered a thumping win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 81 runs.
While the match initially seemed to going RCB's way especially after they had won the toss and reduced KKR to 89/5 inside the 12-over mark, a special innings, probably one that will be remebered for some time to come, from Shardul Thakur helped KKR come back into the match and how.
His counter-attacking innings forced Bangalore bowlers to think differently and under pressure they panicked, caught bowling lines completely opposite to their field-set multiple times. Shardul made the most of such chances and brought up the joint-fastest half-century off the season, crossing the 50-run mark off 20 balls.
He eventually got out for 29-ball 68 in the final over but by that time, he had instilled a belief in their dugout that they can win. He shared a 103-run stand for the sixth wicket with Rinku Singh who scored 46 off 33 balls. From the top order, none barring Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57 off 44) stepped up but Shardul and Rinku's effort proved enough to propel the side to 204/7.
In the run-chase, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis (23) started off positively against the pacers but once Sunil Narine bowled Kohli for 21, the gate was opened and the spinners were right on top of the Bangalore batters. Varun Chakravarthy then picked three wickets in no time, getting rid of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell and Harshal Patel in a span of 2 overs to break Bangalore batting's spine who were eventually bowled out. Suyash Sharma also picked 3 wickets while Narine ended with figures of 2/16.
While Bangalore picked struck twice in an over two times during the innings with David Willey bowling a double-wicket maiden inside the powerplay and Karn Sharma getting the danger batters Gurbaz and Andre Russsell out off back-to-back balls in the 12th over, they still ended up conceding far too many runs than they would have liked. That suggests massives room for improvement in their death bowling, something where they had also gone wrong in their opening match against Mumbai Indians where they had come out on top.