Shardul Thakur rose from the ashes on Thursday, smashing 68 off 29 deliveries to help Kolkata Knight Riders set Royal Challengers Bangalore a challenging target of 205 at the Eden Gardens.
At the time of going to press, RCB were 61-5 after nine overs.
In what was the Knights’ first home match after three years, Thakur walked in when all seemed lost with the scoreboard reading a wobbly 89-5 in the 12th over with Andre Russell just dismissed first ball. He was quickly into a murderous mood, hitting fours and sixes at will as he and the much under-rated Rinku Singh added a crucial 103 runs off 47 deliveries during the sixth-wicket partnership. Rinku departed with 46 off 33, opening up to hit three sixes and a couple of fours after playing second fiddle. By the time Shardul was caught in the deep, he had hit three sixes and nine boundaries.
Gurbaz shines with 57
Earlier, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored a 44-ball 57 that had three sixes and six fours. If the Afghan had kept KKR in the game, Shardul ensured that they now had a real shot at victory.
The top-order had crumbled again, and it was ‘catch-up’ from there as KKR tried to put a decent total on the board. Venkatesh Iyer, KKR’s impact player at Mohali, got to open the innings here but played down the wrong line to an incoming one from David Willey. Mandeep Singh was bowled first ball to another one that had no venom. Skipper Nitish Rana denied Willey the hat-trick but was soon gone attempting a reverse sweep, the ball ballooning to wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik off the gloves and RCB had to use the DRS to reverse a not out decision.
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Gurbaz, who made his IPL debut against Punjab in Mohali on Saturday, brought some controlled hitting to the middle. Even as wickets fell at the other end, the Afghan ensured the runs kept flowing. He reached his fifty with his third six, a delectable slog-sweep over backward square-leg, and had hit six boundaries as well by then, but he too fell to the reverse-sweep—an ill-advised shot considering a man was placed at shortish backward point to pouch a miss-hit.
First-ball duck for Russell
Andre Russell walked in to a huge cheer, but left first ball as he found Virat Kohli at long-off on an attempted six.
It was left to Shardul and Rinku to change the narrative in dramatic fashion.
