It was a perfect homecoming for Kolkata Knight Riders. Their passionate fans had to wait for close to four years to watch them live at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and the team brought their A-game to the table to thoroughly entertain them in an IPL 2023 match against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday. Among the thousands present at the iconic stadium were KKR co-owners and Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Juhi Chawla. Needless to say, the 'King Khan' was overjoyed by the performance put in by Shardul Thakur, Rinku Singh, spinners Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy, and debutant Suyash Sharma.
After KKR registered a mammoth 81-run win over RCB, Shah Rukh Khan, like most days, came down to spend some time with the players. SRK's celebrations were not limited to the KKR players only, he also shared a light moment with RCB great Virat Kohli.
In a video that has now gone viral, Shah Rukh can be seen heading straight to Kohli and giving him a warm hug. The legendary actor then grabbed Kohli, who couldn't stop giggling, and tried to make him dance to the steps of "Jhoome jo Pathaan" from his blockbuster movie "Pathaan".
Watch Video: Shah Rukh Khan makes Virat Kohli dance to ‘Jhoome Jo Pathaan’ song
Shah Rukh also went inside the KKR dressing room and celebrated their first win of the season with the players and the support staff. He was seen singing and shaking a leg on KKR's new dressing room song.
{{/usCountry}}Shah Rukh also went inside the KKR dressing room and celebrated their first win of the season with the players and the support staff. He was seen singing and shaking a leg on KKR's new dressing room song.
{{/usCountry}}As far as the match was concerned, KKR all-rounder Shardul Thakur blitzed a half-century off 20 balls. Thakur hit nine fours and three sixes during his knock of 68, powering a recovery from a worrisome 89-5 in the 12th over.
Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz propped up the innings with 57 off 58 balls but the Afghan's dismissal, along with Andre Russell for a duck the next ball, left Kolkata looking in trouble.
Thakur's dominant show put the hosts back in control and a sixth-wicket partnership with Rinku Singh notched 103 runs off only 47 balls.
RCB crashed to 123 all out in reply as the home team's spinners ran amok, with Varun Chakaravarthy picking 4-15 in less than four overs.
Kolkata's teenage leg spinner Suyash Sharma took 3-30 on his IPL debut and West Indies veteran Sunil Narine was 2-16.
Virat Kohli (21) and Faf du Plessis (23) gave Bangalore a quick start, adding 44 off 29 balls before the bowling attack found its groove when Narine bowled the former Indian captain.
Chakaravarthy dealt du Plessis the same fate three balls later and returned in the eighth over to skittle out Glenn Maxwell (5) and Harshal Patel (0).