Mumbai-based star all-rounder Shardul Thakur was on fire last night (Thursday, April 9). Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), batting first, were reeling at 89/5 when Shardul came out to bat at number seven in match number 9 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and slammed nine fours and three sixes at a strike-rate of 234.48. Shardul's counter-attacking fifty (68 runs from 29 balls) and a solid partnership with Rinku Singh (46) turned the match in home team KKR's favor. Shardul's knock vs RCB was joint-fastest fifty in this year's IPL, so far.
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Former India opener Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to post a Tweet for Shardul, lauding the KKR all-rounder for his batting heroics vs RCB. "Lord Shardul .. Lord Rinku .. Zabardast clean hitting #RcbvKKR," Sehwag wrote in his Tweet.
After the match got over, Shardul's KKR teammate Rahmanullah Gurbaz informed him about Sehwag’s tweet for his fiery innings.
IPL’s official Twitter handle posted a video in which Shardul can be heard saying, "Paaji, aap se hi to seekhe hai! Aap to Guru ho clean hitting ke. Aapse accha kaun maarta hai fast bowler ko. Hum bhi dekh dekh ke hi seekhe hai."
In reply to Kolkata Knight Riders' 204 run total, Royal Challengers Bangalore got all out for just 123 runs in 17.4 overs.
"Even, I don't know where it came from! Looking at the scorecard, everyone would have said we were struggling. But your subconscious mind takes over. You also have to have skills to do that at the higher level, but we also work hard in the nets," Shardul said in the post-match presentation ceremony.