Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rahmanullah Gurbaz (C) walks again to the pavilion after his dismissal through the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore on the Eden Gardens Stadium in Kolkata on April 6, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AFP
Rahmanullah Gurbaz stood tall amid the ruins with a maiden IPL fifty earlier than Shardul Thakur’s counter-attacking 68 from 29 balls propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to an imposing 204 for seven towards Royal Challengers Bangalore right here on Thursday.
On a day explosive KKR batter Andre Russell fell for a golden duck, Gurbaz (57; 44b) laid the inspiration earlier than Thakur confirmed his mettle as a powerhitter to take them previous 200-mark after RCB opted to bowl.
First, it was the Afghanistan recruit who revived their fortunes from a sloppy begin, earlier than Thakur got here in at No 7 to give the group a last flourish in an entertaining 103-run (47b) sixth wicket partnership with Rinku Singh (46; 33b).
The duo lit up the present after Karn Sharma gave a double blow claiming Gurbaz and Russell off successive deliveries within the twelfth over.
On a pitch that had true bounce and carry, David Willey uncovered KKR’s fragile top-order, when the England leftarm pacer knocked over Venkatesh Iyer (3) and Mandeep Singh (0) off successive deliveries contained in the powerplay.
Promoted to open, Venkatesh seemed out of kinds and was completed in by a pointy incoming supply that had low bounce, whereas Mandeep was clueless to an away going supply.
It turned from unhealthy to worse for KKR when a reverse-sweeping Nitish Rana (1) obtained out following assessment from RCB within the very first ball after powerplay.
KKR seemed in bother at 47/3 however Gurbaz led the cost towards the ‘native’ Bengal pacer Akash Deep, pulling him for a six earlier than accumulating back-to-back boundaries. Overall, he hit six fours and three sixes.
Gurbaz took a assessment to overturn an LBW choice on 30 and raced to a 38-ball fifty with a robust sweep over lengthy leg boundary.
Thakur then took Akash Deep to cleaners in his knock studded with 9 fours and three sixes.
Apart from Willey (4-1-16-2), not one of the RCB bowlers failed to impress and Akash Deep conceded 30 runs from his two overs. Siraj additionally seemed wayward and returned with 1/44 from his 4 overs.
They additionally leaked 23 runs in extras.
