Kolkata Knight Riders' star Rinku Singh produced an unbelievable knock in the side's game against Gujarat Titans on Sunday evening. With only 28 runs needed off the final five deliveries of the game, Rinku smashed five-successive sixes against Yash Dayal, taking the Knight Riders to a memorable victory in Ahmedabad. Interestingly, Rinku was batting on 9 off 14 deliveries during the 19th over of the run-chase before his power-hitting began. The left-handed batter eventually remained unbeaten on 48 off 21 deliveries.
The Gujarat Titans were comfortably cruising towards a straightforward win by the end of the 18th over; their stand-in skipper Rashid Khan had taken a hat-trick just off the previous over, when he removed three of KKR's star power-hitters – Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur.
However, Rinku's onslaught left Rashid and the entire Titans team stunned, and Yash Dayal was left shell-shocked at the proceedings. Dayal buried his head and sat inside the dugout for a long time, as he was consoled by fellow members of the Titans side as well as a number of KKR players.
Here's how Twitter reacted to the ridiculous finish in the game:
{{/usCountry}}Here's how Twitter reacted to the ridiculous finish in the game:
{{/usCountry}}"It was a nail-biting finish, extremely happy that we won the game. Our coach has always said that we can score 200 on any given day. Honestly, the wicket was quite good to bat. When the target is 200, you can't have silent overs. I was just trying to execute my plans," Venkatesh Iyer, who also scored a brilliant 83 off just 40 balls in the chase, said after the match.
“Me and Nitish had a good partnership. Unfortunately, somewhere we lost our way but Lord Rinku saved the day. To be honest, we still believed that we could win. This teaches us that we should never give up until the last ball.”
KKR will now meet Sunrisers Hyderabad as they return home to Kolkata on April 14.