Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) faith in all-round skills of Shardul Thakur was justified on Thursday night when he smashed a quickfire 68 off just 29 balls in Match 9 of IPL 2023 vs Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The iconic Eden Gardens was cheering him on as Thakur hit 9 fours and 3 sixes respectively to reach his best individual score in IPL. This was also his first IPL fifty. Thakur came in to bat at number 7 just after KKR lost Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Andre Russell on back-to-back deliveries. Gurbaz played well for his 44-ball 57 while Russell scored a golden duck.


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Thakur took a little time before he started to strike the ball cleanly and helped KKR deliver a counter-punch after losing five wickets for 89 runs under 12 overs. The KKR all-rounder showed his worth with the bat finally in the IPL and must have turned the heads of BCCI selectors towards him as well. Thakur broke some records in the proces of scoring 68 runs. His 69-run knock is now the third-highest by a number 7 or below in IPL. Thakur is behind Russell (88 not out off 36) and Dwayne Bravo (68 off 30). Thakur and Rinku stitched together 103 for the 6th wicket, which is also the third in the list of sixth-wicket stands in the T20 league. 






The KKR player, in fact, has never scored a T20I fifty in 25 matchs he has represented. Thakur has long way to go as a T20 all-rounder but this knock at the Eden Gardens could be the first of the many important innings he is going to play in future for an IPL franchise as well as Team India. Thakur was ably supported by Gurbaz and Rinku Singh. 


Rinku stroked 46 off 33 balls that included 2 fours and 3 sixes and helped KKR cross the 200-run mark. Had he not been there, KKR would have scored something around 190. His two sixes in the slog overs got the KKR dugout on its feet.