IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Match 9 - Talking Points and Who Said What?

Following a shaky start to their first innings, Kolkata Knight Riders clawed their way back into the contest and eventually clinched the two points against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Nitish Rana and Co. recorded the biggest win of the season (by runs) thus far by 81 runs at the iconic Eden Gardens against RCB on Thursday, April 6.

RCB's Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to field first with the aim to win a second consecutive game in their campaign. The side put their best foot forward as David Willey struck back-to-back blows to get Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh back to the dugout in under five overs. 

What followed was clinical batting performances by Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh which helped steer the side to attain a humongous total. After the early fall of wickets, Gurbaz scored a delicate half-century (57 runs) which was followed by Shardul (68 runs) playing a blistering knock that propelled the side to attain 204 runs on the board. 

In response, RCB were outrightly dominated by the spinners who helped KKR clinch the victory at their home ground. Despite a brisk start by Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis, RCB failed to keep their wickets and prove their mettle in the chase. 

Meanwhile, Varun Chakravarthy racked up a four-wicket haul whereas impact substitute Suyash Sharma got three to his name to dent the rival line up. With hardly any fight put by the Bangalore franchise, KKR won the contest by a massive 81 runs.

Here are the Talking Points of the KKR vs RCB match- 

Shardul Thakur’s game-changing performance

KKR endured a horrendous start as they lost Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh in just five overs. However, Gurbaz put up a solid performance to help get the side back on track. That said, it was Shardul Thakur, who took the onus of carving out a game-changing knock that tilted the momentum in his team’s favour. Shardul played a brisk innings as he scored fifty off just 20 balls and concluded with a 29-ball 68 which included nine boundaries and three maximums. Adding to this, he laced it with a wicket during the chase in his two overs which helped him earn the Player of the Match award.

Spinners stamp their authority on RCB

Notably, Kohli and Du Plessis got off to a sensational start just as they required in the chase. Just when the two seemed to be getting in their element, veteran spinner Sunil Narine got the big fish Kohli’s wicket and it was followed by Varun getting three scalps in quick time. Nitish Rana continued to bank on spinners to work wonders and they rightfully did so. Impact Player Suyash Sharma, Varun, and Narine got nine wickets between them to help wrap up the contest and win them the game.

Losing captain, Faf du Plessis said-

We had it set up there in the 12th or 13th over... It was probably 20-25 runs too much. Shardul played well. Their legspinners got on top of us. It was still a good wicket... but the nature of mystery spinners is that they get wickets. They put the squeeze on us. We were pretty average with the bat. You learn lessons. Two or three days ago, you played brilliant cricket. It got away from us.

Winning captain, Nitish Rana said-

If you look at the last match, there were positives; we were in the game even after seven down. Even today, we collapsed, and credit to Gurbaz. And it was an unbelievable innings from Shardul Thakur! People will talk about Shardul, but Rinku held one end up, as we had planned. We had always planned not to give RCB batters pace in the middle overs. Suyash, playing his first match, bowled brilliant balls to such batters. Not even we have got to know him so far! He backs himself. It was always our plan to add him if we needed a third spinner.

Player of the Match, Shardul Thakur said-

Even I don't know where it came from! Looking at the scorecard, everyone would have said we were struggling. But your subconscious mind takes over. You also have to have skills to do that at the higher level, but we also work hard in the nets. Coaching staff do the throwdowns, and give us the option of range-hitting. And you know the pitches; they always suit the batsmen, don't they? Suyash bowled exceptionally well, and we know the quality Sunil and Varun have. They have fun, take wickets. This was a perfect day