Having gone down in their IPL 2023 season opener, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were staring into a second successive defeat after being reduced to 89 for five in the 12th over with Andre Russell dismissed for a golden duck and next batter, Shardul Thakur almost falling victim to Karn Sharma to complete his hat-trick. KKR however finished with 204 for seven and later won the match by an emphatic margin of 81 runs at home on Thursday. And the man responsible for KKR's epic turnaround was Thakur, who struck a 29-ball 68 and later picked a wicket as well. India legend Virender Sehwag was in complete awe of KKR star's mayhem against RCB as he hailed him as "Lord Thakur". Shardul later reacted with a blockbuster response.
Thakur slammed nine boundaries and three maximums in his fiery knock and also stitched an innings-reviving partnership of 103 runs alongside Rinku Singh to help KKR finish with 204 for seven. Shardul's knock was the third-best individual score by a player batting No.7 or lower in an IPL game while the partnership was the third highest for 6th wicket or below in IPL.
After the match, Sehwag took to Twitter to hail Shardul and his partnership with Rinku as he tweeted, "Lord Shardul .. Lord Rinku. Zabardast clean hitting," Virender Sehwag tweeted to Shardul Thakur."
Shardul, in his interaction with KKR teammate and Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for IPL website, was asked about Sehwag's reaction and his response was epic.
{{/usCountry}}Shardul, in his interaction with KKR teammate and Afghanistan batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz for IPL website, was asked about Sehwag's reaction and his response was epic.
{{/usCountry}}"Paaji, aap se hi to seekhe hai! Aap to Guru ho clean hitting ke. Aapse accha kaun maarta hai fast bowler ko. Hum bhi dekh dekh ke hi seekhe hai. (Sir, we have learned how to hit the ball from you only. Who else did such clean hitting against the fast bowlers? We have learned it from seeing you play)," Shardul said.
Shardul had later picked up the wicket of Michael Bracewell as KKR folded RCB for just 123 runs in 17.4 overs. Varun Chakaravarthy, with his 4 for 15, was the pick if the bowlers along with newbie Suyash Sharma, who picked three wickets for 30 runs.