IPL 2023: Rinku Singh Hits 5 Sixes in Last Over as KKR Beat GT By 3 Wickets

IPL 2023: Kolkata Knight Riders required 29 runs in the last over, but managed to get over the line.

In what can easily be considered the best match of the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season so far, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Gujarat Titans by three wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Chasing a target of 205 runs, the two-time champions crossed the finish line in the last delivery, courtesy of five consecutive sixes from Rinku Singh.

Kolkata had a poor start with the bat, with both openers, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Narayan Jagadeesan sent back to the pavilion inside the fourth over. Venkatesh Iyer and skipper Nitish Rana launched the Knights’ retaliation bid, with a 100-run partnership.

Though a lot has been said about Iyer’s retention in the KKR squad, the all-rounder did prove his worth with an 83-run knock. He was a tad timid last season, and also in the first two games of this season, but batted with real authority and courage today.

The headlines, however, will feature Rinku Singh, and rightfully so. At a time when the Knights needed 29 runs in the last over, the left-handed batter came up trumps with five straight sixes.

GT Score 204

Earlier, Gujarat produced a coruscating batting display, scoring 204/4. Deputising for an unwell Hardik Pandya, Rashid Khan opted to bat first after winning the flip of the coin, as his batters lived up to the task.

Gujarat had a decent start with the ball, albeit runs did not flow very easily for them. A 13-run second over, bowled by Shardul Thakur, helped set the tone for the hosts, but consecutive economical overs by Umesh Yadav and Lockie Ferguson meant the pressure was back on the Titans’ openers, Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill.

With the scoring rate being under 8 runs per over, Saha opted to free the shackles in the fifth over, but ended up losing his wicket to a Sunil Narine delivery.

However, the introduction of Varun Chakaravarthy into the bowling attack took the pressure off the Gujarat bowlers, with the spinner conceding 16 runs in his first over.

The next four overs did not produce any noteworthy incident – yielding 32 runs at 8 runs per over, with Gill and Sai Sudharsan punishing the odd bad deliveries, and showing full respect to the good ones. The scales, by then, had tipped in the defending champions’ favour, except that another brilliant Sunil Narine over brought the Knight Riders back in the game.

In an attempt to dispatch the ball into the crowd, Gill ended up providing Umesh Yadav with routine catching practice at long-on, subsequently triggering Abhinav Manohar’s arrival.

Playing his first match of the season, Manohar had the perfect start, hitting three consecutive sixes off Umesh Yadav’s bowling in the next over. Manohar's stay at the crease, however was shortlived, with KKR’s uncut gem, Suyash Sharma cutting through his defensive stance to dismantle the stumps in the very next over.

Shankar Brings up 4th IPL Fifty

Following Manohar’s dismissal, Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar steered the Titans’ innings forward, with the former scoring his second half-century of the season. He was dismissed in the 18th over, with Narine picking up his third wicket, but Shankar emerged as the finisher nonpareil for the Titans.

The all-rounder accumulated 63 runs in only 24 deliveries, in a knock that featured five maximums, alongside four boundaries. Courtesy of his explosive batting, Gujarat scored 45 runs in the last couple of overs, taking their total to 204/4.