In the ninth game of the ongoing IPL 2023, mystery spinner Suyash Sharma made his debut for Kolkata Knight Riders against Royal Challengers Bangalore. He was used as an impact sub, replacing Venkatesh Iyer during the second innings. The former went on to pick three wickets in his debut game, scalping the likes of Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat, and Karn Sharma.
During the game, the KKR co-owners, and Bollywood superstar, Shahrukh Khan was also present at Eden Gardens. And, after picking the wickets of Karthik and Rawat, Sharma imitated ‘Mein Hun Naa’ celebrations in front of SRK. Khan was one of the lead characters in the film around 19 years back, alongside, Sushmita Sen.
Watch the video here:
Still not over Suyash's debut! ? #CantKeepCalm pic.twitter.com/jxDBbgFlPl
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) April 6, 2023
The Knight Riders ended up winning the game by 81 runs on the back of Shardul Thakur’s sensational knock of 68 runs and spinners’ brilliant performance in the second innings. Batting first, the Purple Brigade were reduced to 89/5. Thakur then joined hands with Rinku Singh and the duo put together a partnership of 103 runs to take the team to 204/7.
In reply, RCB had a great start as skipper Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli counter-attacked in the powerplay. However, after the introduction of the spinners, wickets fell in a heap and the team were bowled out on 123.
“Suyash, playing his first match, bowled brilliant balls to such batters. Not even we have got to know him so far! He backs himself. It was always our plan to add him if we needed a third spinner,” KKR skipper Nitish Rana said in the post-match.
“We have seen him (Suyash) at trial matches. He is very quick in the air, and it’s very tough to pick him. It’s just the inexperience, but he showed a fighting attitude,” head coach Chandrakant Pandit said.
