Until completions of 13th over, it was RCB’s game but things changed as Shardul Thakur played an incredibly unbelievable knock to give KKR a total they can easily defend.
People didn’t expect much from Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the right handed batter from Afghanistan scored half century in his second match of KKR, becoming the first player from Afghanistan to score a half century in IPL.
The good thing about this Kolkata team is intent, they have players full of positivity and maturity. These guys have been playing in IPL for a long time and certainly knows ebb and flow of the game.
Rinku Singh is a complete middle order batsman now, he came to bat when KKR looked to go nowhere, there wasn’t much expectations either. But he showed great maturity, picked his bowlers and most importantly waited for the right moment.to take on.
It became only possible because at the other end, Shardul Thakur was not leaving any bowler go unharmed. The first ball he played, after Andre Russell got out for naught, went for a boundary.
It was a vintage KKR recovery, something that Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell used to do. The intent and self belief has been quality of Kolkata Knight Riders for a long time.
Their top order may seem to lack experience but the team in entirety in extremely experienced with the guys like Narine, Russell, Umesh Yadav, Southee and Rana.
It has been a comeback story of Varun Chakraborty, it is good KKR that they had trust in him to do well and he has been amazing so far. You can’t rule out a team which has two inform mystery spinners.
The duo of Varun Chakraborty and Sunil Narine will make the job of other bowlers easier or atleast, they will make sure that while bowling in middle overs, things remain under their control.
Tata IPL 2023 is a long tournament, only two matches have been played and we all know that towards the end phase, spinners get more help. So, Kolkata Knight Riders have a good setup going ahead in the tournament.
Even though they lack experience yet they bat deep and everyone knows how destructive Andre Russell can be on his day. Gurbaz can provide solid starts and if someone form middle order can capitalise on that start, Kolkata will become perfect team.