Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz seemed to be in every part of the ground. On Monday, in KKR's home game against Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens, he picked four catches as his side restricted the visitors to 179 for seven in 20 overs. The stand-out catch from Gurbaz was however that absolute stunner that he picked in dismissing Prabhsimran Singh in the second over of the innings, which reminded fans of MS Dhoni's famous catch in IPL. (KKR vs PBKS Live Score, IPL 2023)
It was the first dismissal made by KKR in the IPL 2023 match against PBKS in Kolkata with Harshit Rana providing the breakthrough, but the bowler won't mind giving the credit to Gurbaz with that sensational catch. It was the final ball of the second over when Harshit followed the advancing Prabhsimran outside the leg stump. The batter looked to flick it over the leg side but instead ended up getting a thick outside edge that flew to far right of Gurbaz.
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The wicketkeeper, who had kept his eyes on the ball, moved towards his left, but showed quick reflexes in changing his direction. He dived and leaped high to complete the catch, but the ball was well far off and it bounced off his gloves. Gurbaz however kept his eyes on it and jumped to catch the rebound. Gurbaz was elated and so was Eden Gardens as the PBKS opener went back scoring just 12 off 8.
{{/usCountry}}The wicketkeeper, who had kept his eyes on the ball, moved towards his left, but showed quick reflexes in changing his direction. He dived and leaped high to complete the catch, but the ball was well far off and it bounced off his gloves. Gurbaz however kept his eyes on it and jumped to catch the rebound. Gurbaz was elated and so was Eden Gardens as the PBKS opener went back scoring just 12 off 8.
{{/usCountry}}However, on social media, fans couldn't stop comparing it with Dhoni's stunner in IPL 2020, which came against KKR. Against a delivery from Dwayne Bravo, KKR batter Shivam Mavi got a big outside edge. Dhoni then fumbled on the jump, but later dived to complete it on rebound.
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Talking about PBKS' innings, Shikhar Dhawan sparked a promising start for the visitors, but KKR's ploy in deploying spinners between overs 6 and 18, derailed and chocked their run scoring. During those 13 overs of spin, four each from Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma and one from Nitish Rana, left PBKS scoring at a run-a-ball rate. PBKS however heaved a sigh of relief after pulling off 36 runs in the last two overs with Harpreet Brar and Shahrukh Khan going bang-bang.
"What I would like to say is, definitely if you take pace off the ball, it is holding a bit. But after the 12th over, it was not holding and turning that much. The wicket is getting a little flatter. That’s what in our mind and 180 is par," said Varun, who was the pick of the bowlers for KKR with his 3 for 26.