Shardul, spinners give KKR big win over RCB

Shardul Thakur is a white-ball enigma. A cursory glance at his statistics will reveal that. One ODI fifty, a previous IPL highest of 29 in 2022 with a strike rate never touching 140–these numbers won't take you anywhere. But this is also #LordThakur, who on his day, at will, can make you eat your words and then some.

Thursday was one such occasion. Wobbling on 89/5, staring at a painless and quick annihilation in an unfamiliar Eden Gardens chanting "RCB, RCB" with Shahrukh Khan in attendance, KKR's prayers were answered in the form of Thakur.

The scoreboard will tell you Thakur and Rinku Singh added 103 runs for the sixth wicket. But it won't tell you KKR scored at a run rate of 13.53 since Andre Russell's dismissal, which in this part of the world still equates to the last nail in the coffin. Not just Russell. The manner, or even the necessity of the shots that triggered KKR's batting implosion, was so abrupt that it defied logic.

David Willey, who knows a thing or two about bowling at Eden Gardens, having featured in the 2016 T20 World Cup final against West Indies, got two in two off balls that moved laterally. In isolation, they were great deliveries but with the ball not exactly zipping off the Eden surface, Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh were guilty of not covering their lines.

Slow bowling always is a factor at Eden. But instead of playing with a straight bat, KKR found ways to get out. Nitish Rana, struggling to put bat to ball, thought that reverse sweeping Michael Bracewell could put an end to his misery. But it bobbed up after taking his glove for an easy catch to DInesh Karthik. Rahmanullah Gurbaz was next to go, throwing away his wicket after a well-grafted fifty when he found short third man with a reverse sweep off Karn Sharma. The biggest blow came in the form of a poorly connected heave from Andre Rusell, trying to clear the rope.

Semblance returned when Shardul Thakur started doing Shardul Thakur things. Glancing Akash Deep off his pads for a four, he then threw everything at a full and wide ball to carve it over extra cover. But the next six was Dhoniesque, Thakur drilling an attempted yorker over long-on to announce his arrival. Turning point of the innings? When Thakur fell on his knee, fetched a Karn Sharma ball from wide outside off and clobbered it through mid-wicket.

From there, it was one-way traffic as KKR and RCB watched in disbelief at the carnage unleashed by Thakur. Fifty runs were added in 21 balls. Thakur himself reached fifty in 20 balls as Rinku understandably kept himself away from strike.

By the time KKR were done batting, RCB were staring at an asking rate of over 10. The pitch was slow and dew was a factor. Having Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli open the innings can instill confidence even in the most trying circumstances but this wasn't RCB's day.

KKR had packed their bowling with three slow bowlers–Sunil Narine (playing his 150th IPL match), Varun Chakaravarthy and the unknown Suyash Sharma. And like a scripted movie, RCB's downfall started with Narine castling Kohli in his first over. Du Plessis went the same way, as did Glen Maxwell, spectacularly failing to read the ball off the pitch.

Four of RCB's top-five were bowled by Narine and Chakaravarthy. But the party wasn't over. Yet to turn 20, Sharma came in and looped in balls from a sizeable run-up. Anuj Rawat, subbed in Mohammed Siraj's place, top-edged to short third man before Dinesh Karthik was caught at the same place, ensuring a big win for KKR.