KKR vs RCB IPL 2023: Who won today’s IPL Match? Check Man of the Match Award Winner

While making a superb fightback in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) season, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have managed to beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by a big margin of 81 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday. This is the opening victory for the Kolkata Knight Riders in this T20 competition after having suffered a disappointing defeat in their first game against Punjab Kings.

KKR vs RCB IPL 2023: Who won today’s IPL Match? Check Man of the Match Award Winner

For the Kolkata Knight Riders, seam bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur completely stole the show away with his amazing knock of 68 runs off just 29 balls that comprised of as many as 9 fours and 3 sixes. He smashed the joint fastest fifty of the ongoing IPL 2023 season and played an important role to help the Kolkata Knight Riders finish with a daunting score of 204 for 7 in their quota of 20 overs. Thakur was named the Man of the Match for his superlative performance as he picked up a wicket as well with the ball.

KKR vs RCB: Shardul and spinners help KKR pick up first win of IPL 2023

After having lost the toss and being asked to bat first, the Kolkata Knight Riders did not had the best of starts as they lost the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh off consecutive balls with just 26 runs on the scoreboard in 3.3 overs. The KKR duo of skipper Nitish Rana and Andre Russell also failed to contribute much with the bat, however, opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz looked in a fine form as he smashed a brilliant innings of 57 runs off 44 balls that consisted of 6 fours and 3 sixes. After his wicket, the pair of Rinku Singh and Shardul Thakur batted incredibly well to stitch an excellent partnership of 103 runs as KKR ended with 204 runs on the board. Rinku contributed with a fine knock of 46 runs off 33 deliveries while Shardul scored a stupendous half-century as well. For RCB, both David Wiley and Karn Sharma picked up two wickets each.

During the chase, the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s openers Virat Kohli and captain Faf du Plessis started things very well having pummelled 44 runs in just 4.5 overs. However, KKR’s spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy spun a web around the RCB batting line-up having collapsed to 54 for 4. While making his IPL debut for Kolkata Knight Riders, 19-year-old leg-spinner Suyash Sharma who came in as an Impact Player ended up taking as many as three wickets during his spell of four overs. Chakravarthy was the pick of the KKR bowlers having taken 4 wickets as Royal Challengers Bangalore were bowled out for a dismal total of 123 runs.

IPL 2023 Point table

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