The fans don’t call him the lord without reason. Shardul Thakur once again proved his mettle by putting up a solid performance in the crunch situation to bail his team out of trouble. The bowling all-rounder smoked 68 runs off just 29 deliveries to take Kolkata Knight Riders to a match-winning total of 204/7 in 20 overs.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore went up against in the 9th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the iconic Eden Gardens. The RCB skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and invited Men in Purple to bat first. His pacers took full advantage of the bowling-friendly conditions as David Willey removed Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh on consecutive deliveries in the 4th over.
Soon, the skipper Nitish Rana got out of Michael Bracewell’s bowling. Rahmanullah Gurbaz tried to hold one end for KKR and scored a solid fifty but leg-spinner Karn Sharma dismissed him and Andre Russell on back-to-back deliveries to break the spine of KKR’s batting. RCB were dominating the proceedings but Shardul Thakur changed the complex of the game with his explosive batting.
Shardul Thakur punishes RCB by smashing a 20-ball fifty
Kolkata Knight Riders were in deep trouble at 89/5 in 11.3 overs when Andre Russell walked back to the pavilion. However, Thakur stitched a brilliant partnership of 103 runs off just 45 deliveries alongside Rinku Singh to post a massive total. In the process, he reached his maiden IPL fifty and scored 68 runs off 29 deliveries, including nine boundaries and three maximums.
Courtesy of his brilliant knock, KKR managed a total of 204/7 in 20 overs. The fans could not hide their emotions after witnessing another Shardul Thakur’s brilliance as they took to Twitter to let their views know.
Check out the best reactions here:
