Kolkata Knight Riders produced an emphatic all-round show on Thursday against Royal Challengers Bangalore, blowing apart the Faf du Plessis-led side by 81 runs. Reeling at 89/5 at one point in time, the Knight Riders saw a show of fireworks by ‘bowling all-rounder’ Shardul Thakur who smoked 68 runs off just 29 balls while orchestrating a 109-run stand with Rinku Singh for the 6th wicket. As a result, the hosts put 204 runs on the board. As Shardul drew plaudits for his heroics on social media, a ‘viral’ old tweet of Virat Kohli also resurfaced. (LSG vs SRH Highlights | IPL 2023 Points Table)
It wasn’t the first time Shardul showed how well he can do with the bat. The all-rounder has produced some fine cameos with the bat for the Indian team as well, particularly in Test cricket. On most of those occasions, Kohli was Shardul’s teammate. However, this time, the two stood at opposite ends.
Virat’s tweet that resurfaced was none other than the famous ‘Tula Maanla re Thakur’.
Tula maanla re Thakur @imShard pic.twitter.com/fw9z3dZ8Zi
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) December 23, 2019
The meaning of the word ‘Tula Maanla re Thakur’ is “Hat’s off to you Thakur”. The original post was tweeted after Shardul played an important role in India’s win over West Indies back in December 2019.
Speaking of his own performance, Shardul admitted that he didn’t know exactly how he was able to do what he did against the Royal Challengers.
“I don’t even know where it came from but looking at the scorecard at that time, everyone would have thought we are 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. There is a period where we can slog it in the nets. The coaching staff do the throwdowns, and give us the option of range-hitting. And you know the pitches – they always suit the batsmen, don’t they?
“Suyash bowled exceptionally well, and we know the quality Sunil and Varun have. They have fun, take wickets. This was a perfect da,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
With the win, KKR are now placed 3rd in the points table, having won one game and lost one.
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