Rinku Singh produced a miracle for Kolkata Knight Riders on Saturday evening in a high-voltage clash against Gujarat Titans, smashing five-successive sixes in the final over to deliver a three-wicket win for the side. The KKR required 28 runs to win off the last five balls and Rinku, against fellow Uttar Pradesh teammate Yash Dayal, did the unthinkable; he smashed the left-armer for 30 runs in five deliveries, as the Knight Riders inflicted a first defeat on Titans in this edition of the tournament.
Rinku had been batting on 9 off 14 deliveries and hopes were all but lost for KKR, especially after Rashid Khan's brilliant hat-trick during the 17th over when he dismissed KKR's three power-hitters; Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur off successive deliveries. But Rinku had other plans and executed them to absolute perfection to break the GT hearts.
Following the game, the Knight Riders posted a rather emotional video of Shreyas Iyer reacting to the side's win, as he talked to Rinku, as well as stand-in captain Nitish Rana. Iyer is out of the season with a back injury, and Rana will lead the side for the whole edition.
"Bhaiya, kaise ho? (How are you, brother?) God's plan!" Rinku could be heard saying on the video call to Shreyas, to which KKR's first-team skipper replied, “Rinku bhaiya zindabad (Long live Rinku!).”
{{/usCountry}}"Bhaiya, kaise ho? (How are you, brother?) God's plan!" Rinku could be heard saying on the video call to Shreyas, to which KKR's first-team skipper replied, “Rinku bhaiya zindabad (Long live Rinku!).”
{{/usCountry}}Nitish, then, also joined the conversation as he asked Shreyas whether he saw the entire innings, to which the KKR star replied in the positive. “Dekh raha tha ki nahi? Yaad aa rahi hai teri (Did you watch the innings? We are missing you),” Nitish said.
Shreyas also said that he had “goosebumps” watching the innings.
“Rinku keh raha tha last year ki tarah chhodunga nahi, Khatm karke aaunga. (Rinku said he won't miss it like last year. He will finish the game),” Nitish further said, referring to the game against Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2022 when the batter was dismissed on the penultimate delivery of the run-chase. Chasing 211 to win, Rinku had scored 40 off 15 balls but the KKR lost by merely 2 runs.
Watch the entire chat:
The Kolkata Knight Riders will now return to action on April 14 when they return to Eden Gardens for the clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad, who registered their first win of the season on Sunday night.