It was a brilliant batting performance by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the opening stages of their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, April 7. While Shardul Thakur stole the show with his 29-ball 68, one other player was equally effective, and created his own piece of history in the IPL.
Young wicketkeeper-batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz's 44-ball 57 was the first time that a player from Afghanistan had hit a half-century in the league. The previous highest was 40 runs by Rashid Khan, and in doing so, Gurbaz also broke into the top-15 list of batters with the most runs in the league this season, with 79 runs to his name. He is now 11th, just 4 behind Prabhsimran SIinghIPL 2023, Orange Cap: Virat Kohli enters 100-run club despite RCB thrashing, Faf du Plessis in top 10 as well
As of now, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Ruturaj Gaikwad lead the race for the Orange Cap with his n149 runs in two matches and consecutive fifties. Second is Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper Shikhar Dhawan, with his unbeaten 86 against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) taking his tally to 126 runs. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) opener Kyle Mayers, who also struck back-to-back fifties in his first two matches, has amassed 126 runs to claim the second spot.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli added just 21 more runs to his tally after his unbeaten 82 in the first game of the season against the Mumbai Indians (MI). He crossed the 100-run threshold despite a poor day with the bat, with 103 runs to his name now.
Players | Teams | Matches | Runs | Highest Score | Average | Strike Rate | 100 | 50 |
Ruturaj Gaikwad | Chennai Super Kings | 2 | 149 | 92 | 74.50 | 183.95 | 0 | 2 |
Shikhar Dhawan | Punjab Kings | 2 | 126 | 86* | 126 | 148.23 | 0 | 1 |
Kyle Mayers | Lucknow Super Giants | 2 | 126 | 73 | 63.00 | 210 | 0 | 2 |
Virat Kohli | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 2 | 103 | 82* | 103.00 | 153.73 | 0 | 1 |
Sanju Samson | Rajasthan Royals | 2 | 97 | 55 | 48.50 | 170.17 | 0 | 1 |
Faf du Plessis | Royal Challengers Bangalore | 2 | 96 | 73 | 48.00 | 174.54 | 0 | 1 |
David Warner | Delhi Capitals | 2 | 93 | 56 | 46.50 | 116.25 | 0 | 1 |
Tilak Varma | Mumbai Indians | 1 | 84 | 84* | - | 182.60 | 0 | 1 |
Sai Sudharsan | Gujarat Titans | 2 | 84 | 62* | 84 | 129.23 | 0 | 1 |
Prabhsimran Singh | Punjab Kings | 2 | 83 | 60 | 41.50 | 180.43 | 0 | 1 |
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