Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered a humiliating 81-run defeat at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Match 9 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Eden Gardens on Thursday (April 16).
Asked to bat first, the hosts racked up a massive 204/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Shardul Thakur starred with the bat for KKR with 68 off 29 balls while Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57 off 44) and Rinku Singh (46 off 33) also chipped in with vital contributions.
David Willey was the stand-out bowler for RCB, claiming two wickets by conceding 16 runs in his four overs.
In response, the visitors were bundled out for 123 in 17.4 overs. It was a listless performance with the willow from RCB as no batter managed to touch the 30-run mark. Skipper Faf du Plessis was the top scorer with 12-ball 23.
KKR’s spin troika of Varun Chakaravarthy (4-15), Suyash Sharma (3-30), and Sunil Narine (2-16) wreaked havoc on the RCB batting line-up, sharing nine scalps among them. Shardul took the remaining one wicket of Michael Bracewell.
Cricket experts on Twitter lauded KKR bowlers’ stellar show while they were also critical of RCB’s abysmal batting performance.
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