IPL 2023: Shardul Thakur surprises himself with blistering knock vs RCB

Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders were staring at a potentially low score against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday. With half their side in the dugout at just 89 runs on the board, KKR needed someone to step up.

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Surprisingly for everyone, Shardul Thakur took the mantle and steered KKR to 204/7 with a 29-ball 68 run knock. The inning took everyone by surprise – including the seamer.

“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,” he said in the post-match presentation ceremony.

Thakur, who later picked a wicket (of Michael Bracewell) and a catch (of Shahbaz Ahmed), credited the power-hitting training and spinners for making it a perfect homecoming for KKR.

“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 (Sharma) bowled exceptionally well, and we know the quality Sunil (Narine) and Varun (Chakravarthy) have. They have fun, and take wickets. This was a perfect day,” the all-rounder said.

His skipper, Nitish Rana, applauded the effort to bring the side back into the game. “I was always confident of his batting ability as an impact player but his stroke-making exceeded my expectations. If your all-rounder bats in such way, and turns around the game single-handedly, what else does a captain want?”

With Thakur going after the bowling, Rinku Singh occupied the middle at the other end without creating chaos or adding to the nerves. His cameo of 44 runs from 33 balls ensured a century partnership.

Rana spoke to Rinku Singh during a strategic break as he played a selfless knock and missed a half-century.

“His innings was very important. I’m pretty close to him so I was telling him to stay till 19-20th over. I knew he can hit sixes in any ball.”

Handed a 205 run target, RCB struggled throughout and were eventually bowled out for 123 runs in 17.4 overs. The KKR spin trio of Sharma, Narine and Chakravarthy took nine wickets combined. The 81-run win was the first of the season for KKR.

Coach Chandrakant Pandit said on the victory: “It’s a good win. The boys have shown the character. Looking at the initial stage, having lost wickets, and coming back to get 200-plus. We just expected the pitch to help the spinners. But you require enough runs. Shardul and Rinku Singh (46 off 33) counter-attacked the opposition,” he said.

‘The way we bowled to Shardul was not right’

As KKR camp was pumped with Shardul Thakur’s batting, Royal Challengers Bangalore thinktank were not quite pleased with how they tackled him.

RCB director of cricket Mike Hesson said the approach against Thakur was not right from his bowlers.

“I think the way we bowled to Shardul was not right. In terms of what we talked about and what we were able to execute. That gave them a little bit of momentum and once he got some momentum and confidence, he was harder to bowl to. We were very good with the ball last game, but today we were a bit off,” he said in RCB Match Review.

RCB captain Faf du Plessis said his side lost the plot after keeping KKR batters under pressure till the 13th over. He also indicated that his batters need to improve against quality spinners.

“We had it set up there in the 12th or 13th over… It was probably 20-25 runs too much. Shardul played well. Their leg-spinners 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,” added the South African.

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