KKR vs RCB: Kolkata Knight Riders made their homecoming special as they crush RCB by 81 runs

Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 81 runs in Match 9 of IPL 2023, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday. Chasing a target of 205 runs, RCB were bowled out for 123 in 17.3 overs, with Varun Chakravarthy taking four wickets for KKR and Suyash Sharma bagging three dismissals. Meanwhile, Sunil Narine scalped two wickets. Initially, KKR reached 204/7 in 20 overs, with the help of some good batting from Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57), Shardul Thakur (68), and Rinku Singh (46). Read the Match Report of the KKR vs RCB game and share your thoughts in the comments.

Read Also: KKR vs RCB: Shardul Thakur breaks record with the bat at Eden Gardens

KKR vs RCB: IPL 2023 Match Report

RCB off to a brilliant start with David Willey picking up early wickets

RCB won the toss & decided to bowl first. David Willey drew the first blood by sending Venkatesh Iyer to the dugout for just 3 runs. He also sent Mandeep Singh home for a golden duck. Skipper Rana also failed to contribute anything to the scoresheet. Gurbaz was fighting alone from the other end. KKR lost 3 wickets in quick sensation but Gurbaz & Rinku Singh carried the team forward. Rinku Singh scored 46 runs in 33 deliveries and made a brilliant partnership with Gurbaz. Karn Sharma removed Gurbaz after he scored an important half-century. Andre Russell also lost his wicket for a golden duck. Karn Sharma picked up his wicket while Harshal Patel sent Rinku Singh to the dugout.

Shardul Thakur, The Game-changer

Shardul Thakur came into bat when KKR were at 89/5, but then played an inning to remember. Kolkata Knight Riders all-rounder played a blinder & pulled KKR out of the mud. He showed impeccable skills of batting and cleared the fence with ease with his shots. Shardul Thakur got to his fifty in just 20 balls, becoming the fastest Indian player to get to a half-century in this edition of the Indian Premier League. He also broke another record.

Shardul scored the second-highest runs in IPL after coming down to bat between seventh to eleventh position. He came down to bat as a seventh batter in the KKR vs RCB match. He demonstrated a display of batting the top-order KKR batters failed to do and took on the RCB bowlers in a devastating fashion. This is also Shardul's 1st fifty in IPL. He ended up scoring 68 runs off just 29 balls. Thakur was outstanding for the two-time IPL champions, constructing his inning with 9 fours and 3 sixes. KKR, at one stage, were loosing hope but ended up scoring 204/7 at the end of their 20 overs.

Varun Chakravarthy, Narine & Suyash shattered down the RCB batting lineup

RCB started the chase quite brilliantly. Faf (23) & Virat (21) combo was once again proving dangerous for the bowlers but Sunil Narine & Varun Chakravarty silent them up. RCB lost 5 wickets under 17 runs. They were 44/0 in 4.5 overs and after 8.5 overs, RCB ended up loosing 5 wickets for 61 runs. Sunil Narine picked up 2 wickets after the end of his 4 overs with only 16 runs given. Suyash Sharma, the debutant scalped 3 wickets. The middle order completely shattered down against the bowling attack of KKR.

RCB lost 9 wickets under just 96 runs but Willey (20*) & Akash Deep (17) took the responsibilities to help their team reach a respectable total of 123. Varun Chakravarthy bowled 3.4 overs and ended up picking 4 crucial wickets after giving only 15 runs. Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first victory of the season and made their homecoming special after waiting for four long years.