IPL 2023: Shah Rukh Khan graces venue during Kolkata Knight Riders' first home game of the season

The Indian Premier League season 16 continued its breathtaking action as Kolkata Knight Riders hosted Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday, April 6 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The match is the first home game of the season for Kolkata and is being attended by a large number of people as the KKR fans have painted the Eden Gardens with ‘gold and purple’.

Amid the densely packed stadium, a special KKR fan was also spotted in the stands as actor and KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan marked his presence at the historic ground. King Khan has time and again come to cheer for his team which has won the IPL twice in 2012 and 2014.

As the Pathaan actor was spotted at the stadium dressed in a black hoodie and black pants, the crowd went absolutely berserk shouting his name at the top of their voice. Seeing the amount of love being showered on him by the Kolkata crowd, the ‘Badshah of Bollywood’ waved at his fans.

Shah Rukh Khan is back in the stands supporting KKR's first match after four years. King Kohli and King Khan in the same venue. That's what IPL is. Sheer entertainment. @iamsrk #AmiKKR #PlayBold #RCB #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/KKUF7D7dlz

— Ridhima Pathak (@PathakRidhima) April 6, 2023

The ongoing season of the IPL is being held in the ‘home and away’ format after a gap of four years and hence it’s a moment to cherish for Kolkata fans as they welcome their ‘Knights’ to their home ground after so long.

David Willey stops KKR from getting a good start

The affairs on the pitch, however, didn’t start merrily for the home side as after being put in to bat first, they were left reeling at 47/3 after 6.1 overs. David Willey did most of the damage dismissing Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh on back-to-back deliveries in the fourth over of the innings.

Captain Nitish Rana also couldn’t bail his team out of trouble as he got out to Michael Bracewell after scoring just 1 off 5 balls. Rahmanullah Gurbaaz tried his best to stabilize the innings with his knock of 57 off 44 balls but Karn Sharma dismissed him and Andre Russel for a golden duck in the 12^th over to pile on the misery for KKR. After 12 overs, Kolkata were 94/5 with Shardul Thakur (5* off 3) and Rinku Singh (12* off 12 ) at the crease.