Shardul Thakur credits Virender Sehwag for his fiery knock against RCB in Indian Premier League 2023

Shardul Thakur gave credit to Virender Sehwag for his fiery match-winning knock for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens as KKR defeated RCB by a huge margin of 81 runs in the Indian Premier League 2023.

Batting first, KKR were struggling after losing 5 wickets for 89 runs in 11.2 overs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz got out after scoring a fine fifty with 57 runs off 44 balls. After that, Shardul took the charge and put up a partnership of 103 runs with Rinku Singh for the fifth wicket. Rinku got out after scoring 46 runs off 33 balls, while Shardul smashed 68 runs off just 29 balls as KKR posted a total of 204 for the loss of 7 wickets.

‘I don’t even know where it came from…’ – Shardul Thakur

In reply, RCB were bowled out for 123 runs in 17.4 overs and KKR got their first win of the season after losing against Punjab Kings. Shardul was awarded the Player of the Match award for his fiery knock and also for 1 wicket he took while bowling. The 31-year-old revealed that he learned to hit shots from the former Indian batter Sehwag and called him his “Guru.’

“I learnt all those big hitting from Virender Sehwag. He’s our guru. Who can smash fast bowlers like him. I don’t even know where it came from but looking at the scorecard at that time, everyone would have thought we are struggling. But your subconscious mind takes over. You also have to have skills to do that at the higher level, but we also work hard in the nets,” said Shardul at the post-match presentation.

Chasing a big total, RCB got a decent start as the skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli added 44 runs for the first wicket in 4.5 overs. But things changed after Sunil Narine bowled Kohli, followed by the dismissal of Du Plessis by Varun Chakravarthy, a few deliveries later. Chakravarthy scalped 4 wickets, conceding 15 runs in 3.4 overs as RCB got bowled out under 20 overs. Debutant Suyash Sharma, who also came as an impact player, ended up taking three wickets.