IPL: Rinku's 5 last over sixes bring impossible victory for Kolkata

Ahmedabad: On Sunday afternoon, Narendra Modi Stadium here witnessed an enthralling match, or was it batters cashing bowlers who went rogue? The match between the royal Gujarat Titans (GT), the defending champions, and frail Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) exhibited a visual treat for fans, the latter beating the former for three wickets.

Kolkata, who lost seven wickets, were able enough to reign in the huge target 202 after Rinku Singh was able to hit the ball over the fences five times in the last over by Yash Dayal, scoring the required 29 runs from it.

Gujarat Titans entered the game without Hardik Pandya. Therefore, Afghan spinner Rashid Khan took the captain's band. Winning the toss, GT decided to bat first. Though Wriddhaman Saha departed earlier, B Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar handled the bat with responsibility, both scoring half-tons. Shankar (63 off 24) was in a form where he hit four 4s and five 6s, taking the team total to 204/4 in 20 overs. Sunil Narine took three wickets for KKR.

In the chase, Venkatesh Iyer smashed 83 off 40 balls and shared a 100-run partnership off 55 balls with captain Nitish Rana to put Kolkata on course to victory.

However, Rashid Khan, who got unusually punished by Iyer and Rana today, took a hat-trick in the 17th over, slamming KKR to the ground. When Andre Russel gave him an edge and caught behind, Narine gave him second wicker by getting caught, and the star of the previous game, Shardul Thakur, got caught before the wicket. Everything became in favour of GT in that over.

However, was it Rinku who had a nervous break or Dayal? Coming to strike in the second ball of the last over, which asked for 29 runs, Rinku smashed all the remaining five balls with eyes closed to finish them as sixes. In the over before that also, Rinku sent Joshua Little for a six and a four.