Kolkata: Shardul Thakur smashed a counter-attacking half-century before the spinners played their part to perfection as Kolkata Knight Riders made a memorable homecoming with an 81-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL here on Thursday. KKR found themselves tottering for 89/5 before Thakur led a superb recovery with his 29-ball 68 to power his team to 204/7 after RCB opted to bowl.
Coming in at No 7, Thakur hammered the joint-fastest fifty of the season off 20 balls and shared an entertaining 103-run wicket partnership off 47 balls with Rinku Singh (46 off 33). In reply, RCB failed to last the distance and folded up for 123 in 17.4 overs with the trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and debutant Suyash Sharma sharing eight wickets between themselves.
It was KKR's first win of the season. Thakur also took one wicket in his all-round show in KKR's first home match after almost four years. RCB were going great guns at 44 no loss in 25 balls in pursuit of the big chase before the Sunil Narine triggered the collapse, foxing Virat Kohli (21; 18b) with a beauty in his 150th IPL match.
Chakravarthy then gave a double blow dismissing Glenn Maxwell (5) and Harshal Patel (0) in three balls before ending with splendid figures of 3.4-0-15-4. Thereafter, it was 19-year-old leg-spinner Suyash Sharma (4-0-30-3) who made a dream debut after being included as an impact player in place of Venkatesh Iyer.
The long-haired mystery spinner got two wickets in one over to have KKR reeling at 86/8. Suyash got his maiden wicket when he deceived Anju Rawat (1) with a tossed up delivery and in space of three balls, he grabbed the prized-scalp of Dinesh Karthik (9) with a fuller delivery. Fresh from his 82 not out against Mumbai Indians, Kohli teed off in style, scoring a boundary off the first ball of the innings against Umesh Yadav.
At 42 for no loss, the RCB opening duo looked set for another easy chase when Narine triggered the collapse, cleaning up Kohli with a beauty. The star Indian completely missed the line as the ball sharply turned in to knock his stumps. Earlier, David Willey (4-1-16-2) and Karn Sharma (3-0-26-2) took wickets off successive deliveries in powerplay and middle overs respectively to give RCB the initial edge.
Willey exposed KKR's fragile top-order, when the England leftarm pacer knocked over Venkatesh Iyer (3) and Mandeep Singh (0) off successive deliveries. But RCB frittered away the start with Rahmanullah Gurbaz first taking the charge against a wayward Akash Deep en route to his 44-ball 57, his maiden IPL fifty.
It turned from bad to worse for KKR when a reverse-sweeping Nitish Rana (1) got out following a good review from RCB in the very first ball after powerplay. KKR looked in trouble at 47/3 but Gurbaz led the charge against the 'local' Bengal pacer Akash Deep, pulling him for a six before collecting back-to-back boundaries.
Gurbaz took a review to overturn an LBW decision on 30 and raced to a 38-ball fifty with a powerful sweep over long leg boundary. But RCB again seized the momentum when the legspinner Sharma had Gurbaz and Russell off back-to-back deliveries in the 12th over. Thakur then took Akash Deep to cleaners in his knock studded with nine fours and three sixes.
Apart from Willey (4-1-16-2), none of the RCB bowlers failed to impress and Akash Deep conceded 30 runs from his two overs. Siraj also looked wayward and returned with 1/44 from his four overs. They also leaked 23 runs in extras. (PTI)
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Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders made a competitive 204 for 7 in their IPL match against Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Thursday. Shardul Thakur (68 off 29 balls) and opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57 off 44 balls) cracked fine half-centuries while Rinku Singh scored a 33-ball 46 as KKR made a fine recovery from 89 for five.
For Royal Challengers Bangalore, left-arm pace bowler David Willey and leg-spinner Karn Sharma took two wickets each.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 204 for 7 in 20 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 57, Shardul Thakur 68, Rinku Singh 46; David Willey 2/16, Karn Sharma 2/26) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Scoreboard: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders
Kolkata Knight Riders:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz c Akash Deep b Sharma 57
Venkatesh Iyer b Willey 3
Mandeep Singh b Willey 0
Nitish Rana c Karthik b Bracewell 1
Rinku Singh c Karthik b Patel 46
Andre Russell c Kohli b Sharma 0
Shardul Thakur c Maxwell b Mohammed Siraj 68
Sunil Narine not out 0
Umesh Yadav not out 6
Extras: (B-4, LB-6, NB-3, W-10) 23
Total: (For 7 wickets in 20 overs) 204
Fall of Wickets: 1-26, 2-26, 3-47, 4-89, 5-89, 6-192, 7-198.
Bowling: Mohammed Siraj 4-0-44-1, David Willey 4-1-16-2, Akash Deep 2-0-30-0, Michael Bracewell 3-0-34-1, Shahbaz Ahmed 1-0-6-0, Karn Sharma 3-0-26-2, Harshal Patel 3-0-38-1.
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Kolkata: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday won the toss and elected to field against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) here at the Eden Gardens stadium in the 9th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The captains:
Rana: Was looking to bowl as well because of the dew factor. Anukul is replaced by Suyash.
Faf: Going to have a bowl. Bit of a misunderstanding with the accent there (confusion at the toss). Was dew last night. Hoping it will get skiddy in the second innings. That's a long way away. Today is a completely new game. Really motivated to put in a good performance. Forced change with Topley being injured. Willey comes in.
Teams:
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Mandeep Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
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Preview:
Shreyas-less KKR look to get back to winning ways against confident RCB
Kolkata: An injury-ravaged Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team would find solace in that the game against all-powerful Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) would take place at home here in front of a packed Eden Gardens Stadium and that just might catapult the team to winning ways in the IPL.
The Kolkata side didn't have the best of starts both inside and outside the field as the team lost to Punjab Kings via Duckworth-Lewis method by seven runs. Outside of it, they have lost two players in Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who opted out due to personal commitments, and skipper Shreyas Iyer. Iyer is nursing a back injury that has forced him out of the tournament.
The dual role that Iyer provides that of captaincy and player messes with the already depleted engine of the KKR's side. As a batter, Iyer gives them the precarious balancing act of stability, experience, and firepower in the batting line-up. While as a skipper, he has the experience of leading his former side, Delhi Capitals, to the play-offs and Kolkata was banking on him to find them the winning formula.
Nitish Rana, who has the experience of leading Delhi, was made to captain the side as the management expected Shreyas' return mid-tournament. However, the captaincy crisis ensued when he was ruled out of the entire league matches. KKR's coach Chandrakant Pandit has a huge task ahead to set things in motion for his team.
But what will make the contest electrifying would be the presence of stars as Shah Rukh Khan might be in the stands cheering for his team with live match returning to Eden Gardens after 1,438 days. The last match to be played in the venue was back on April 28, 2019, when his team beat Mumbai Indians by 34 runs. This was the pre-Covid world.
If KKR has the star power of Khan, RCB boasts of an equally loved Virat Kohli, who performs the role of 'double engine' for his team as a batter that can snatch wins from the jaws of defeat and as a pure entertainer and a crowd puller. Who doesn't want to see him exulting, fist-pumping, and spreading energy around?
Meanwhile, all is not well with the Bengal side as they lost their first match that faced a floodlights snag which was followed up by rainfall.
The only bright spot during the series of blips for Kolkata in that match was a half-century partnership between Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer. Iyer was promoted up the order to lighten up the batting against Punjab Kings.
The other lone performance was from their opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the Afghan wicket-keeper batter, who turned the heat with flourishing boundaries and a humongous 101-metre six.
After their loss, KKR in their defense did blame power failure as one of the reasons but they will need to raise the bar in this high-stakes game.
Their bowling too hasn't paid dividends as Tim Southee and Sunil Narine conceded runs aplenty. While Southee will look to pull up his socks, Narine has lost his mysteriousness and should stick to tight line and lengths.
KKR's litmus test will be against the opening duo of Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli from the RCB as both of them appeared flawless and authoritative in their 82-run stand against Mumbai Indian which they won by eight wickets.
RCB has a potent pace attack in Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, and Akash Deep, who will look to make the best of the pace-friendly strip provided at the Eden Gardens. However, they will miss the services of Englishman Reece Topley, who sustained a shoulder injury.
