The two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) kept their faint playoff hopes alive with a stunning six-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in match 61 of the IPL 2023 edition on Sunday evening (May 14). The likes of Sunil Narine (2 for 15), Varun Chakaravarthy (2 for 37), Rinku Singh (43-ball 54) and skipper Nitish Rana (57 not out) propelled their side to a much-needed win as Kolkata stay alive in the playoffs race.
While Rinku and Varun have been one of KKR’s most consistent performers this season, Narine, Andre Russell, and Shardul Thakur have been below par. Ahead of the CSK-KKR clash in Chennai, former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris took a dig at Indian all-rounder Shardul Thakur.
“Shardul Thakur looks lost as a cricketer. The worst thing as an all-rounder than you can be called is a bits-and-pieces cricketer,” Styris told JioCinema.
Shardul has featured in 10 games in this year’s season. The 31-year-old has accounted for five scalps and scored 110 runs. He missed a few games due to injury concerns.
KKR have one more game to play, versus the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at home, and, thus, Shardul will be hungry to silence his critics with a memorable all-round performance. His side needs to win at all costs and hope for a number of results to go in their favour to qualify for the playoffs with 14 points, the maximum they can reach in case of another win.
After the IPL, Shardul will then shift his focus on the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final where India will take on Australia in early June, at The Oval, London.
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