Kolkata Knight Riders have finally registered their first victory in IPL 2023 in front of their home crowd after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore by 81 runs at the Eden Gardens KKR posted a total of 204 for the loss of 7 wickets, powered by the fiery half-century by Shardul Thakur after a poor start. In reply, RCB were bowled out for 123 runs in 17.4 overs.
Batting first, KKR were reduced to 89 for 5 in 11.3 overs with Rahmnaullah Gurbaz scoring 57 off 44 hitting six fours and three sixes. He was caught by Akash Deep in the 12th over from Karn Sharma. On the very next ball, Andre Russell got out on the very first ball he faced, trying to take on Sharma but ended up giving a catch to Virat Kohli at long-on.
After that, Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh took charge of the game. Thakur and Rinku put up a partnership of 103 runs before the fall of the sixth wicket in the 19th over. Rinku got out after scoring 46 runs off 33 balls hitting two fours and three sixes, while Thakur smashed 68 runs off just 29 balls before getting out in the 19th over. The 31-year-old smashed nine fours and three sixes during his innings. For RCB, David Willey and Karn Sharma took 2 wickets each, while Mohammed Siraj, Michael Bracewell, and Harshal Patel shared a wicket each.
RCB started losing regular wickets after a good start
Chasing a total of 205 runs, skipper Faf du Plessis (23 off 12) and Virat Kohli (21 off 18) were looking in good touch as the opening pair added 44 runs in 4.5 overs until Sunil Narine bowled Kohli out to give KKR a first breakthrough. An over later, Varun Chakravarthy struck his first wicket and dismissed Du Plessis in the same manner followed by the wicket of Hashal Patel a delivery later.
After that, RCB lost momentum and started losing wickets at regular intervals at got bowled out in the 18th over losing the game by 81 runs. For KKR, Chakravarthy took 4 wickets by conceding 15 runs in 3.4 overs. Impact player Suyash Sharma scalped 3 wickets, Sunil Narine took 2, while Shardul put 1 in his bag.
— Rohit (@rohit_0718) April 6, 2023
Mastermind thela warned us😭😭 pic.twitter.com/C95CcIu2qb
— Sahil (@kohlibhakt018) April 6, 2023
Rcb singing tannani tane in dressing room after the match pic.twitter.com/1l37h2Pq3B
— RoHitian💙 (@Vins264) April 6, 2023
RCB announcing their return to original form. pic.twitter.com/NJc9CK2W04
— Ayush (@_Ayush_07) April 6, 2023
Scenes right now😭 pic.twitter.com/d0VfmYykIX
— TROLL CRICKET (@WarraCricMeme) April 6, 2023
RCB fans right now pic.twitter.com/TCDDZZOj5Z
— यत्र तत्र सर्वत्र (@mainhimain) April 6, 2023
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— Mohit (@CricketHolik) April 6, 2023
— Ashish Tiwari (@iAT108) April 6, 2023
— TENET REDDY ™ (@99999sanjay) April 6, 2023
Haarcb fans landing back to earth
— Gamernk (@Gamernk4) April 6, 2023
🤣😂😂 pic.twitter.com/FryYhrLJtJ
— 🤞VISHAL 🤞 (@visla_j) April 6, 2023