[Watch] Karn Sharma picks back-to-back wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Andre Russell in KKR vs RCB IPL 2023 match

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) spinner Karn Sharma picked up successive wickets against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during match No.9 of IPL 2023 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday (April 6).

RCB won the toss and elected to bowl first despite a bit of confusion at the toss. Sharma was introduced in the bowling attack in the 10th over.

Although KKR opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz swept for a six on the second ball of the over, the leg-spinner conceded just eight runs from his first over. Karn Sharma got the better of Gurbaz in his next over when the Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter attempted to play the reverse shot against him. A diving catch from Akash Deep at short third ended Gurbaz's great run (57 off 44 balls) at the crease.

KKR all-rounder Andre Russell decided to take on Sharma from the word go but couldn't succeed in his pursuit. The RCB spin bowler floated a leg-breaker around the off-stump and Russell swung it straight away but holed out to Virat Kohli at long-off.

Karn Sharma missed the opportunity to pick up a hat-trick as Shardul Thakur got a thick inside edge against a flighted delivery and the ball dragged past the leg stump for a boundary. Karn Sharma completed his spell with two wickets for 26 runs from three overs at an economy rate of 8.7.

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David Willey struck two early wickets in powerplay for RCB

RCB left-arm pace bowler David Willey struck back-to-back wickets inside the mandatory powerplay overs.

Willey generated a low bounce to rattle Venkatesh Iyer's middle and leg stumps. A nipping away sharp delivery deceived Mandeep Singh on the next ball and the KKR No.3 was cleaned up for a golden duck. It was a double-wicket maiden over from the England quick.

Off-spinner Michael Bracewell dismissed KKR skipper Nitish Rana on the first ball after the powerplay. Rana went for a reverse-sweep but got a glove on the ball that popped into the air for Dinesh Karthik to collect it comfortably behind the wickets.