Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) all-rounder Shardul Thakur expressed his gratitude to legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag’s tweet about his batting against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first home game in three long years.

The 31-year-old smashed the RCB bowlers all around to park to score his maiden half-century in the cash-rich league.

Shardul Thakur was at his absolute best against RCB, though his team struggled at 89-5 in 11 overs–losing the crowd-favourite Andre Russell for a golden duck. Thakur showed positive intent to score right from the beginning of his innings. He went on to score 68 runs off just 29 balls, which earned him praise from legendary batter Virender Sehwag.

“Lord Shardul .. Lord Rinku .. Zabardast clean hitting #RCBvKKR,” Sehwag tweeted.

Lord Shardul .. Lord Rinku ..
Zabardast clean hitting #RcbvKKR

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) April 6, 2023

In a video posted on the Indian Premier League social media handle, Shardul Thakur was seen chatting with his Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The hard-hitting opener mentioned the tweet of Sehwag to which Shardul responded.

“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 Thakur said.

Of sparkling knocks, a special @virendersehwag tweet & relishing @iamsrk‘s presence 😎 🌟

𝗗𝗢 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗠𝗜𝗦𝗦 this interview special with @imShard & @RGurbaz_21 from Eden Gardens 👌 👌 – By @28anand

Full Interview 🎥 🔽 #TATAIPL | #KKRvRCB | @KKRidershttps://t.co/8bXwtvbTXB pic.twitter.com/xm7wmcWOZT

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 7, 2023

Thakur was awarded player of the match for his brilliant knock as he added 103 runs for the sixth wicket to take KKR out of trouble and post the mammoth total of 204 runs. He also bagged a wicket in the game.

We Have Practiced For Situation Like These – Shardul Thakur 

Thakur credited the team management for preparing him to play in those pressure situations and added they had a lot of stimulation practice of how would they want to perform when wickets fell quickly.

Pertinently, the two-time champions had a major change in the coaching staff as their brought Chandrakant Pandit as their head coach in place of Brendon McCullum, who was their coach for the past three seasons.

“If we look at the scorecard, it might look like we were going through a pressure situation but we have practiced for situations like these. And that is why I could perform the way I did after five quick wickets had fallen early. The help we get from the team management and the practice that goes behind the scenes aids such innings,” Shardul Thakur maintained.

Though Kolkata Knight Riders registered their first win in the league stage, they will have a lot of things to address to the top of the order–and their bowling of the pacers in power play overs. Kolkata Knight Riders will take on Gujarat Titans on April 9 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.