David Willey returned an exceptional spell of 2 for 16, dismissing Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh to get Royal challengers Bangalore off to a sensational start. A like-for-like replacement for Reece Topley who has now been ruled out of the season due to a dislocated shoulder, Willey bowled a double-wicket maiden upfront.
Karn Sharma, who began the season with a bang by picking three wickets against Mumbai Indians was once again penetrative through the middle. He removed the well-set Gurbaz and then consigned Russell to a first-baller.
Just as KKR were staring at an inadequate total, up stepped Shardul Thakur to change the complexion of the game with an emphatic 68 off just 29 balls. Chasing the steep target of 205, Royal Challengers Bangalore endured an equally poor start. Excellent spells from the spin trio of Varun Chakravarthy, Suyash Sharma and Sunil Narine helped KKR thump RCB by 81 runs to open their account in IPL 2023.
Varun Chakravarthy is wreaking havoc here.
Picks up two more wickets in an over.
Maxwell and Harshal depart in quick succession.
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— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 6, 2023
