Kolkata Knight Riders’ highly-anticipated homecoming began with losing the toss to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) match no. 9. With co-owner Shah Rukh Khan in attendance, Nitish Rana’s boys were expected to have a blast at the Eden Gardens. But to everyone’s surprise, KKR had a disappointing start as the RCB bowlers reduced the hosts to 89 for 5 in 11.3 overs. But it was meant to be Shardul’s day as he rescued the home team like a superhero.
Thakur slammed 68 off 29 balls, with nine fours and three sixes at a strike-rate of 234.48, and grabbed the record for the joint-fastest fifty of the season along with Jos Buttler in 20 balls. He also shared an important 103-run stand off just 47 balls with Rinku Singh, who struggled but opened up to hit 46 off 33 balls.
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Shardul bagged the Player of the match award for playing a game-changing inning against RCB on Thursday night. During the presentation ceremony, the all-rounder admitted that he himself didn’t know from where the whirlwind knock came.
“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," he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
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Thakur, who took a catch of Shahbaz Ahmed and dismissed Michael Bracewell, credited the power-hitting training and spinners for making it a perfect homecoming for KKR.
“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, and take wickets. This was a perfect day," the all-rounder said.
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Kolkata secured their first win this season which is now the biggest victory in terms of the margin of runs. They will now travel to Ahmedabad for their next fixture against defending champions Gujarat Titans who are yet to be beaten in the tournament.
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