
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is hosting Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) for the ninth game of the ongoing Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
Virat Kohli returns to Eden Gardens where they won the Eliminator last year. They also saw Virat Kohli score a ton en route to a team total of 213 in 2019 but also saw in 2017, the infamous 49 all out.
Now that RCB will be returning to take on KKR here for the first time in four years.
Chakaravarthy Caught & Bowled and its all over for Royal Challengers!!
He ends with a 4-fer, a night to remember!,
Akash Deep c and b Chakaravarthy 17(8) [4s-2 6s-1]
Tossed up ball and Karn Sharma tried to slog sweep it but misses to be rapped on the pads.
While the umpires stayed still, KKR went for review and got it in their favour.
Karn Sharma c Nitish Rana b Suyash Sharma 1(3)
KKR are ruling at Eden Gardens!
The debutant gets the better of Karthik and that makes it two for him.
Karthik c Chakaravarthy b Suyash Sharma 9(8) [4s-1]
Suyash Sharma gets his 1st IPL wicket in his first game!
Impact player Anuj Rawat kneels down and tries to slog sweep it against the spin but it lands in Narine's hands towards short third man.
Anuj Rawat c Narine b Suyash Sharma 1(5)
The stars have aligned for Shardul Thakur and he can do nothing wrong tonight.
M Bracewell c Nitish Rana b Thakur 19(18) [4s-1 6s-1]
While Varun Chakaravarthy has taken 3 wickets, Sunil Narine has taken two and RCB have lost 5 for just 61.
Glenn Maxwell (5), Harshal Patel (0) and Shahbaz Ahmed (1) all depart in quick succession.
Almost a replay of Virat Kohli's dismissal!
However, this was an inside edge. Faf tried to force a fullish delivery from outside off and skewed it off the thick inside edge onto his middle and off.
du Plessis b Chakaravarthy 23(12) [4s-2 6s-2]
Narine bowls it on an in-between length and gets the ball to spin enough to hit the top of off the stumps.
Kohli b Narine 21(18) [4s-3]
Suyash Sharma, the impact player, is in for Venkatesh Iyer.
After early wickets falling for Kolkata, it looked like the score would not reach 150 but Shardul Thakur and Rinku Singh put on a strong 50+ runs partnership after Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 57-run attack at the start.
David Willey and Karn Sharma got two wickets each while Harshal Patel, Michael Bracewell and Siraj got 1 each to their name.
The bowler initially did good, but later on lost the plot as they gave extras as well as were hit for boundaries.
Lord Shardul Thakur does the job other's did not do!
Siraj digs in the slower ball bumper, gets a tennis-ball like bounce and Maxwell takes the catch.
Thakur c Maxwell b Siraj 68(29) [4s-9 6s-3]
No celebrations in the RCB camp as Rinku Singh departs!
The slower short ball dug into the surface and the ball snicks the glove on the attempted pull.
Rinku Singh c Karthik b Harshal Patel 46(33) [4s-2 6s-3]
Lord Shardul Thakur has just notched up his maiden fifty in the IPL!
The game was away from KKR's hand, but Shardul Thakur has changed the dynamic of the match.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Andre Russell - Karn Sharma sends back two dangermen back-to-back!
1st it was Gurbaz who went for the reverse-sweep but couldn't keep it down. The ball went straight towards Akash Deep who dived across at short third and taking a stunning catch.
Gurbaz threw his head back in agony as the catch is taken!,
Gurbaz c Akash Deep b Karn Sharma 57(44) [4s-6 6s-3]
As for the second wicket, he got the big man Russell Muscle!,
The KKR batter holes out first ball whichwent straight into the hands of Virat Kohli at long-off,
Russell c Kohli b Karn Sharma 0(1)
SIX and Gurbaz brings up fifty with a fierce sweep.
Rana tried the reverse-sweep off Bracewell's first ball, but it pops up in the air for the keeper.
While it was not given out straightaway, replay showed the ball hitting the glove and going in the air DK takes the catch.
Rana was already walking off before the third umpire could confirm the decision.
Nitish Rana c Karthik b M Bracewell 1(5)
2 batters, both bowled!
1st was Venkatesh Iyer, who tried punching off the back foot but the ball took a sharp turn and got the stumps rattled.
Venkatesh Iyer b Willey 3(7)
The second was new batter Mandeep Singh who went tentatively forward to defend it, but the ball nipped away sharply to beat the edge before smashing off stump.
Mandeep b Willey 0(1)
A bit of a confusion at the toss but Bangalore win and opt to bowl.
Both teams have made one change.
Forced change for RCB with Topley being injured and Willey comes in.
For KKR, Anukul is replaced by Suyash.
Teams:
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj,
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Mandeep Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy