Bangladesh all-rounder Sakib al Hasan became the toast of Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League scoring his maiden fifty in four years in their 30-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday. Sakib’s 60 from 38 balls with five fours and three sixes came just after he hit a match-winning 21-ball 46 against Chennai Super Kings at the same venue on Tuesday.
Sakib, who is all-time fourth highest wicket-taker for Knight Riders with 32 wickets from 25 matches, seemed to have gotten his batting touch in his fourth year in the tournament, scoring 196 runs in 10 matches of the ongoing campaign.
His average of 49 runs is the highest by any Knight Riders batsman in the season, ahead of Robin Uthappa, the leading scorer of the tournament, who averages 47.66.
Uthappa (83) shared 121 runs with Sakib for the fourth wicket to set up the win over Royal Challengers, the sixth consecutive win for Knight Riders, which also confirmed their place in the play-off.
Sakib also took nine wickets this season to play a significant role in their progress to the play-off.
Shahrukh Khan, the major stakeholder in Knight Riders, is understandably happy with the performance of the Bangladesh all-rounder.
‘Sakib I want to carry u on my back,’ Shahrukh twitted after the Chennai game, expressing his feelings.
Sakib seemed to have taken inspiration from his words, doing even better against Royal Challengers.
-With New Age input
