Kolkata Knight Rider‘s (KKR) star player Shardul Thakur yet again stole the show with his sensational performance against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on Thursday (April 6). Shardul’s exploit helped his team register a dominating 81-run victory over RCB in the match no. 9 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
Shardul scored a brilliant 68 off 29 balls in the match and hammered RCB bowlers all over the ground. During his innings, the 31-year-old cricketer smashed nine fours and three sixes. Notably, when Shardul came in to bat, the Kolkata-based team was struggling with five wickets down in 11.3 overs. However, the Palghar-born bailed KKR out of the crisis and powered them to a mammoth 204-run total. He also achieved the feat of the joint-fastest fifty of the IPL 2023, along with Jos Buttler, in 20 balls.
Shardul even contributed with a wicket in the second innings and was adjudged ‘Player of The Match’ for his all-round performance. During the post-match presentation, the KKR cricketer talked about his blistering knock and revealed that he himself doesn’t know where it came from.
“I don’t even know where it came from but looking at the scorecard at that time, everyone would have thought we are struggling. Your subconscious mind takes over. You also have to have skills to do that at a higher level, but we also work hard in the nets. There is a period where we can slog it in the nets. The coaching staff do the throwdowns and gives us the option of range-hitting. And you know the pitches – they always suit the batsmen, don’t they?” said Shardul.
Bowlers' parents at night – 𝙎𝙤 𝙟𝙖𝙖𝙤 𝙫𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙖 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙𝙪𝙡 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙠𝙪𝙧 𝙖𝙖𝙟𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙜𝙖 😉@imShard unleashed a blitzkrieg in #KKRvRCB 🤯#TATAIPL #IPL2023 #IPLonJioCinema pic.twitter.com/epRk0yUbgb
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 6, 2023
https://twitter.com/spartan45media/status/1644241256728657926
Following the win against RCB, Kolkata moved up to the third position in the points table. Meanwhile, the Bangalore-based side slipped to the seventh spot. Shardul also received a few other trophies besides the ‘Player of the Match’ award and posed with those as well.
Man of the Match: Shardul Thakur 💜 #cricket #IPL2023 #KKRvRCB #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/CBNWphqRyF
— CricketTimes.com (@CricketTimesHQ) April 7, 2023
