IPL 2023: Nitish Rana's positive outlook as captain stuns RCB's superpower batting

Nitish Rana-led Kolkata Knight Riders defeated RCB by a huge margin of 81 runs to register their first win of the IPL 2023.

In a stunning performance, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by a huge margin of 81 runs.  After a setback against Punjab Kings, KKR have opened their account at their home ground Eden Gardens. RCB could not recover after Shardul's magical innings of 68 runs in 29 balls. Shardul’s innings helped KKR score a big total of 207. RCB batters struggled against KKR’s spin trio of Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and new comer Suyash Sharma. In reply to KKR’s 207, RCB were bundled out at 126. The KKR spinners picked up 9 wickets.

Captain Nitish Rana's positive mindset helps KKR

KKR had a poor start to their campaign in IPL 2023. They lost to Punjab Kings in a rain affected encounter at PCA Stadium in Mohali. KKR were beaten by 7 runs (DLS) in their first game. Nitish Rana was delighted with the team’s performance against RCB on Thursday. KKR Captain Nitish picked up positives from the previous game. He said, “If you look at the last game, there were positives”. Nitish also praised Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh for their superb batting. He said, “It was an unbelievable inning from Shardul, but Rinku also held on to end up”. Rinku Singh scored 46 runs for KKR. Opener Rahmanullah scored 57.

Faf du PLessis feels RCB gave few extra runs

RCB captain Faf du Plessis was disappointed with the loss against KKR. He was not happy with RCB’s bowling performance in the end. Faf said, “It was probably 20-25 runs too much”. RCB batters looked clueless against KKR spinners. Faf showing his disappointment said, “The leg spinner got on top of us, it was still a good wicket to bat on”. After a good start, they lost their 5 wickets in 17 runs. This gave KKR a chance to grab the game with both hands.

Coaches help Shardul Thakur in batting

All-rounder Shardul Thakur was awarded the Player of the Match award for his all round performance. He scored 68 runs in 29 balls smashing 9 fours and 3 sixes. He also picked a wicket to help their spinners in finishing the game. Happy with his performance Shardul said, “I don’t know where it came from… we also work hard in the nets, Coaching staff do the throw downs and give us proper range of hitting”.  Shardul Thakur with his innings as a finisher took the momentum from RCB and since then KKR held the game firmly in their hand.