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
at Eden Gardens 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).
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
at Eden Gardens 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.
