Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered their maiden win in the ongoing IPL 2023, as they thumped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 81 runs in their first home match at Eden Gardens after 2019 on April 6, 2023.
KKR are without their regular captain Shreyas Iyer who has been ruled out of the tournament due to his back injury and under Nitish Rana, KKR fell short of the target against Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their opening match in Mohali.
But they were on point against KKR as despite being reduced to 86/5 in the 12th over, they managed to put 204/7 on the board after being asked to bat first. Shardul Thakur top-scored with 68, while Rahmanullah Gurbaz made 57 and Rinku Singh made 46 runs.
RCB were never in the chase as Varun Chakravarthy picked 4/15, debutant Suyash Sharma took 3 and veteran Sunil Narine took two wickets including that of Virat Kohli for 21 runs, as the Faf du Plessis-led side was bundled out for 123 runs.
After the win, the KKR squad celebrated in the dressing room and co-owner Shah Rukh Khan had a special message for the entire contingent.
He said: “The older guys here, they know my speeches so I won’t bore you with them. They have been hearing it every year. Andre, Sunil, Southee, so many of them… I’ll just say whether people believing you or not, you have to believe in yourself. Please go out there and do what you do best and enjoy yourself and be healthy. Don’t get hurt.”
Check it out here:
A hilarious thing also happened during the celebrations as Shah Rukh Khan asked Rinku Singh to lead the team chants, but the left-handed batter was hesitant as the chant was all in English.
Then Abhishek Nayar and Shah Rukh Khan egged him on and together said the chant loudly before the celebrations began.
Here is the video:
