Kolkata Knight Riders won their second match in a row as they beat Gujarat Titans by three wickets in a thriller in Match 13 of the TATA IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Rinku Singh (48* off 21) set the stage on fire and did the unthinkable as he smashed five sixes in a row with 28 needed off five balls to pull off a breathtaking win for Kolkata Knight Riders. It was a roller-coaster match which saw Impact Player Venkatesh Iyer sizzle with a blistering innings of 83 off 40 balls, ably supported by Nitish Rana (45 off 29) and Rashid Khan take the first hat-trick of IPL 2023 but it was Rinku Singh’s heroics that will be talked about for years to come.
Defending 204, Mohd. Shami struck early for the Titans as he had the dangerous-looking Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught at short fine leg off a short ball. Yash Dayal pulled off a fantastic catch as he collided with the keeper who also went for the catch. Shami has given away just two runs in the first over but Rahmanullah had then upped the ante with a six and a four to get to 15 off 12 balls. KKR sent in Impact Player Venkatesh Iyer at No.3. He replaced Suyash Sharma.
Josh Little then sent the other opener – N Jagadeesan – back in the next over, having him caught at deep square leg off a short ball.
Venkatesh Iyer, who had come out with an attacking intent, hit a six and a couple of fours to take KKR to 43/2 at the end of the Powerplay. Iyer took on Yash Dayal in his first over, hitting a four and a six and taking 13 off the over. Captain Nitish Rana got into the groove with two sixes off Alzarri Joseph. Iyer and Rana made sure they kept the scoreboard ticking and at least one boundary was hit every over as they reached 86/1 at the halfway mark.
The duo took the attack to Rashid Khan and hit him for 23 runs in two overs. Iyer brought up his fifty off 26 balls as he hammered a four and a six off Yash Dayal and Rana too chipped in with a six to make it 17 off the over. KKR scored 60 in the 8 to 12 over phase.
Rana continued the attack on Rashid, hitting him for two fours in his third over as the pair brought up the 100-run stand off just 54 balls. However, against the run of play, Joseph struck and had Rana caught at mid off for 45(29). Iyer though continued the momentum as he went after Josh Little and hit him for two fours and a six and amassed 17 from the over as the equation came down to 56 needed off 30 balls.
Joseph then picked up another crucial wicket as he had Iyer caught at long on for 83(40).
With 50 needed off 24, Rashid Khan turned the tables with a superb hat-trick. He provided a huge moment first as he had Andre Russell caught behind. Russell looked to pull but got an edge onto the pads and it lobbed to the keeper. The umpire didn’t give it out but Rashid reviewed it and replays showed there was definitely bat involved. He then had Sunil Narine caught at deep mid-wicket off the next ball and then trapped last match hero Shardul Thakur LBW off a googly. The batter reviewed it but replays showed all three reds. Rashid gave away just two runs and picked three wickets in the over to finish with 4-0-37-3.
With 48 needed from the last three overs, Shami bowled a brilliant over and gave away just five. Rinku Singh led KKR’s fight with a six and a four off the final two balls of the penultimate over, from Little, to bring it down to 29 needed off the last over. Umesh Yadav picked up a single off the first ball of the last over bowled by Yash Dayal and with 28 needed off the last five balls, Rinku Singh did the unthinkable, smashing five sixes in a row against Dayal to spark wild celebrations. Rinku remained unbeaten on 48 off 21 balls with one four and six sixes.
Earlier, Gujarat Titans stand-in captain Rashid Khan, who was leading the side in absence of unwell Hardik Pandya, won the toss and elected to bat. They made two changes as Vijay Shankar and Abhinav Manohar replaced Hardik Pandya and Josh Little. They named Matthew Wade, Mohit Sharma, KS Bharat, Jayant Yadav and Josh little as their substitutes
KKR, on the other hand, made three changes as N Jagadeesan, Suyash Sharma and Lockie Ferguson replaced Mandeep Singh, Venkatesh Iyer and Tim Southee. They named Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Venkatesh Iyer, Mandeep Singh and David Wiese as their substitutes.
The Gujarat Giants openers – Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill – got the team off to a steady start. Saha donned the aggressor’s hat as he played a couple of well-timed lofts for fours, one each off Umesh Yadav and Lockie Ferguson. Shubman Gill opened his boundary account as he played a nicely-placed flick wide of mid on as GT reached 31/0 at the end of four overs. Nitish Rana introduced spin into the attack in the fifth over as he brought on Sunil Narine and he struck immediately, sending back Saha (17 off 17) off his second ball, brilliantly caught by N Jagadeesan at mid-wicket. Saha got a top edge on his slog-sweep and Jagadeesan took a very good catch running backwards.
The Titans got moving as Shubman Gill creamed a couple of sublime drives four fours through the off side off Varun Chakravarthy who also conceded five WIDES to make it 16 from the over. GT reached 54/1 at the end of the Powerplay. Gill cracked another one through the covers for a four off Narine in the next over.
Gill and Sai Sudharsan got together and mixed caution with aggression to bring up the fifty run stand off 32 balls. The duo concentrated on hitting down the ground as Sudharsan hit a four and a six off Suyash Sharma and Chakravarthy respectively while Gill smashed a four to long off, off Suyash as GT reached 88/1 at the half-way mark.
With the partnership blooming, Rana brought back Narine and he broke the partnership again, having the set Gill 39(31) caught at long on on the 12th over. It was a good comeback from Narine who was hit for a six off the first ball of that over by Sudharsan.
Abhinav Manohar arrived at the fall of Gill’s wicket and straightaway counter-attacked, hitting three fours in a row off Umesh Yadav. He then edged one a ball later and keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz couldn’t hold on to a tough chance.
Manohar (14 off 8) though couldn’t last long as Suyash cleaned him up with a beautiful googly that sneaked through his bat and pad. Sudharsan, meanwhile, kept chipping away with singles, twos and an odd four to bring up his third IPL fifty off 34 balls. He along with Vijay Shankar ran well between the wickets to take multiple singles and twos to bring up the 150 in the 17th over. Narine though came back to break the partnership again as he had Sudharsan caught at long off for 53(38).
Shankar then pressed the accelerator button going after Ferguson and hitting him for two fours and two sixes to accumulate 25 off the over. He brought up his fourth IPL fifty, off just 21 balls with a massive six over deep mid-wicket off Shardul in the last over and then hit two more sixes off the next two balls to make it 20 runs off the over and propel GT to 204/4 from 20 overs.
Shankar remained unbeaten on 63 off 24 balls with his innings laced with four fours and five sixes. Sunil Narine was the pick of the bowlers for KKR with figures of 4-0-33-3.
Gujarat Titans brought on Josh Little as their Impact Player, replacing Sai Sudharsan at the start of their bowling innings. They also had to bring on KS Bharat as a substitute keeper in place of the injured Wriddhiman Saha.
