IPL 2023 Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings after Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore match (Updated)
The ninth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) take on the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their first home game of the season on Thursday, April 6.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and chose to bowl first. The KKR top order failed to flatter yet again as David Willey struck twice with the new ball to castle Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh off successive deliveries.
The hosts were stuttering at one stage and stared at a mediocre and below-par total before Shardul Thakur set the stage ablaze with the bat. The all-rounder scored the joint-fastest fifty of the season, helping KKR put up a commanding total of 204/7 on the board.
KKR had to endure a flurry of boundaries from Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis before the introduction of spin turned things around. Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy were responsible for the first five wickets to fall and had RCB reduced to 61/5 after nine overs.
Debutant Suyash Sharma then took things over, marking his maiden appearance with a brilliant spell of 3/30. Succumbing to spin, RCB were eventually bundled out for 123, leading to a 81-run defeat.
IPL 2023 Orange Cap updated list
Shardul Thakur was the key performer for KKR with the bat after scoring a destructive 68 runs off 29 deliveries to turn the course of the first innings. It is the second-highest individual score in the league by a No.7, only behind Andre Russell. He is now placed 12th on the run charts.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz also scored a good half-century while opening the batting. The Afghan batter scored a well-compiled 57 runs off 44 deliveries, taking him to the 11th spot in terms of runs.
Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis notched a decent start during the run chase, but were dismissed by spin bowlers in the latter stages of the powerplay for 21 and 23 runs, respectively. Combined with his unbeaten 82 from RCB's win over MI, Kohli now has 103 runs for the season, putting him in fourth place in the IPL 2023 Orange Cap standings.
Faf du Plessis, on the other hand, is still four short of the 100-run mark and is placed in sixth position on the run charts.
IPL 2023 Purple Cap updated list
The RCB bowlers had a horrid time bowling at the Eden Gardens, especially in the second half of the innings. Among the set of bowlers, David Willey and Karn Sharma picked up two wickets each and were the pick of the lot.
The leg-spinner continued from where he left off against the Mumbai Indians (MI) and finished with figures of 2/32, to take his season tally to four wickets and occupy the 11th rank in the IPL 2023 wickets column.
Varun Chakravarthy bowled a scathing spell, accounting for the wickets of Faf du Plessis, Glenn Maxwell, and Harshal Patel. The mystery spinner eventually finished with figures of 4/15 in 3.4 overs. He now has five wickets in the campaign, putting him in the second position in the IPL 2023 Purple Cap list.