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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) scored 204/7 in the first innings of the ninth match of IPL 2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Thursday, April 6, at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis won the toss and decided to bowl first in the contest. David Willey (2/16) vindicated his decision by scalping the wickets of Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh and giving the visiting side a decent start. KKR captain Nitish Rana (1 off 5 balls) failed once again with the bat.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57 off 44 balls), tried to steady the ship with his maiden IPL half-century. But the Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter's stay in the middle was cut short by Karn Sharma, who delivered a massive blow to the Kolkata side in the 12th over by dismissing Gurbaz and Andre Russell off consecutive deliveries.
The Knight Riders were left reeling at 89/5 in 11.3 overs. They were in deep trouble with not much batting left in the tank. However, all-rounder Shardul Thakur (68 off 29 balls) walked to the crease and almost single-handedly bailed his side out of a dire situation.
He carted bowlers all around the park and smashed the joint-fastest half-century of the season in 20 balls. His onslaught powered KKR to 204/7 from a position where it looked like they might not even breach the 160-run mark at one stage.
Rinku Singh (46 off 33 balls) provided able support to Thakur during their 103-run partnership for the sixth wicket.
The southpaw reflected on his partnership with Shardul Thakur during the mid-innings break, saying:
"We (Shardul Thakur and him) had a very good partnership. We thought about taking it deep and to the end and not losing wickets. My plan was to stick around till the end. Thakur was striking it well so I kept handing the strike over to him. The pitch is slow and we've got a very good total."
Fans on social media enjoyed the first innings of the IPL 2023 match between KKR and RCB. They expressed their reactions in the form of some hilarious memes.
Fans react after KKR overcomes a collapse to reach 204/7 vs RCB in IPL 2023
Here is a collection of the best memes:
