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KKR outclass RCB by 81 runs at Eden Gardens to bag first win of IPL 2023
6th April 2023
An all-round performance helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) outclass Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 81 runs at the Eden Gardens on Thursday to register their first victory of the IPL 2023 season.
Batting first, Shardul Thakur (68), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57) and Rinku Singh (46) powered KKR to 204/7 in 20 overs. David Willy and Karn Sharma bagged two wickets each for RCB.
In reply, RCB lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 123 in 17.4 overs. Varun Chakravarty (4-15), Suyash Sharma (3-30) and Sunil Narine (2-16) were the pick of the bowlers for KKR.
Earlier, put into bat, KKR got off to a good start, thanks to opener Gurbaz.
But Willy got rid of Venkatesh Iyer (3) and Mandeep Singh (0) in successive balls to put the home side in the backfoot at 26/2.
Despite the double blow, Gurbaz played positively. New batter and captain Nitish Rana (1) too fell to put KKR in trouble at 47/3 inside 7 overs.
Gurbaz brought up his half-century in style but fell to Karn Sharma. Andre Russell, too, departed off his very first ball to reduce KKR to 89/5.
But incoming batters, Rinku and Shardul stitched together a superb 103 run partnership for the sixth wicket to take the team closer to 200.
In reply, chasing a challenging target, Virat Kohli (21) and skipper Faf du Plessis (23) got RCB off to a positive start.
But Narine and Varun stunned the visitors, taking wickets at regular intervals to put RCB in a stop of bother at 61/5.
However, Michael Bracewell (19) and Willy (20) played handy knocks but Suyash was superb with the ball at the end as RCB's innings folded inside 18 overs.
CAB MEDIA DESK
Arindam Basu
