With Shardul Thakur to defeat, Varun Chakraborty, to spin, and Suyash Sharma making his debut, Kolkata had no option but to win. Nitish Rana and his team secured their first victory in this season’s IPL by defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 81 runs through batting and bowling dominance. The first loss of the season for RCB. In 17.4 overs, Bangalore were wiped out for 123 runs pursuing a massive target of 205 runs set by Kolkata.
The dismissals of opener Virat Kohli (21 off 18 deliveries) and captain Faf du Plessis precipitated a collective collapse for the RCB, despite their initial promise (23 off 12 balls). The Bangalore batsmen were floundering as spinners Varun Chakraborty, Sunil Narine, and 19-year-old debutant Suyyash Sharma took control. Four wickets were taken by Varun Chakraborty, three wickets by Suyash Sharma, and two wickets by Sunil Narine. Shardul Thakur, who was an exceptional batsman, also captured a wicket.
Lord Shardul, Varun and Suyash Shines
In the RCB lineup, only three players scored in double figures after the openers. Michael Bracewell (19 from 18 balls), David Willey (20* from 20 balls), and Akash Deep (17 from 8 balls) contributed to the tally exceeding 100. Glenn Maxwell scored 5 runs in 7 balls, Harshal Patel scored 0 runs, Shahbaz Ahmed scored 1 runs in 5 balls, Dinesh Karthik scored 9 runs in 8 balls, Anuj Rawat scored 1 runs in 5 balls, and Karan Sharma scored 1 runs in 3 balls.
When Shardul Thakur was crushed in the seventh over at Eden Gardens Stadium, runs poured in. Shardul Thakur (68 off 29 deliveries) and opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz helped Kolkata Knight Riders score 204 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs while batting first against Royal Challengers Bangalore (57 off 44 balls). RCB has a run target of 205. The outstanding batting of Shardul Thakur helped Kolkata surpass 200 when they were 89 for 5 at one juncture. Sixth-wicket pair Shardur Thakur and Rinku Singh (46 off 33 deliveries) scored 103 runs.
Shardul Thakur’s striking.
The innings of Shardul contained three sixes, nines, and fours. Shardul achieved his first fifty in the IPL in only 20 deliveries. Shardul also tied with Jos Buttler of the Rajasthan Royals for the quickest fifty in this IPL. Shardul Thakur is the fourth Kolkata batsman to score fifty or more runs in the seventh over or later. Shardul’s dismissal in the final over brought the team total to 198.
RCB gained the toss and elected to bowl against Kolkata. David Willey replaced the injured Topley and gave optimism that the decision made by captain Du Plessis was correct. Willy dismissed the openers Venkatesh Iyer (3 off 7 deliveries) and Mandeep Singh (0) in the fourth over. Nitish Rana, the captain (1 off 5 deliveries), and Andre Russell, the wicketkeeper, both failed to impress. Shardul and Rinku then combine to take the sixth wicket. Umesh Yadav (6* off 2 deliveries) and Sunil Narine (nil*) brought the tally past 200 in the final over despite being dismissed. David Willey and Karan Sharma each claimed two wickets for RCB, while Mohammad Siraj, Michael Bracewell, and Harshal Patel each took one.
