Rahmanullah Gurbaz (C) of Kolkata Knight Riders walks back to the pavilion after being dismissed during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens Stadium on April 6, 2023 in Kolkata. photo credit: AFP
Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit Shardul Thakur’s 29-ball 68 to propel Kolkata Knight Riders to 204 for seven against Royal Challengers Bangalore here on Thursday.
On a day when KKR’s explosive batsman Andre Russell fell for a golden duck, Gurbaz (57; 44b) laid the foundation before Thakur struck to take them past the 200-mark after RCB opted to bowl. Showed your ability.
Firstly, it was Afghanistan’s recruits who revived their fortunes from a poor start, before Thakur came in at number 7 and shared an entertaining sixth-wicket partnership of 103 (47b) with Rinku Singh (46; 33b) Gave the final success to the team. ,
The duo set the show on fire in the 12th over after Karn Sharma hit Gurbaz and Russell twice off consecutive deliveries.
On a pitch that had perfect bounce and carry, David Willey exposed KKR’s fragile top-order when the England left-arm pacer removed Venkatesh Iyer (3) and Mandeep Singh (0) on consecutive deliveries inside the powerplay. Out
Promoted to open, Venkatesh looked out of form and was done by a sharp incoming delivery that had low bounce, while Mandeep was unfazed by a going away delivery.
It turned from bad to worse for KKR when RCB’s reverse sweeper Nitish Rana (1) got out on the very first ball after the powerplay after a good review.
KKR looked in trouble at 47/3, but Gurbaj led the charge against Bengal’s ‘local’ pacer Akash Deep, collecting back-to-back boundaries before hitting him for a six. In total, he hit six fours and three sixes.
Gurbaj took a review to overturn the LBW decision on 30 and brought up his 38-ball fifty with a powerful sweep over the long-leg boundary.
After this, Thakur took Akash Deep to the cleaners with the help of 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 in his two overs. Siraj also looked wayward and returned with 1/44 from his four overs.
He also looted 23 runs in the extra.