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- GT vs KKR Highlights, IPL 2023: Rinku Singh smashes five back-to-back sixes as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets
GT vs KKR Highlights, IPL 2023: Rinku Singh smashes five back-to-back sixes as Kolkata Knight Riders beat Gujarat Titans by 3 wickets
Kolkata Knight Riders' swashbucking batter Rinku Singh slammed five consecutive sixes to pull off a sensational three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League on Sunday. Needing 29 runs off the last over, Rinku slammed left-arm pacer Yash Dayal for five sixes on the trot to register a last-ball victory. Rashid Khan led from the front and returned with impressive figures of 3 for 37, while Alzarri Joseph (2/27) picked up two wickets, but all their efforts went in vain. Venkatesh Iyer made 83 off 40 balls for KKR while skipper Nitish Rana played a fine 29-ball 45-run knock. Rinku played the knock of his life and struck one four and as many as six hits over the fence to seal a famous win for KKR. Earlier, electing to bat, GT rode on Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar's fifties to post a mammoth 204 for four. Hardik Pandya missed the game as he is unwell and in his place Rashid led GT. Sudharsan made a 38-ball 53 while Shankar scored an unbeaten 63 off just 24 balls. Besides Sudharsan and Shankar, opener Shubman Gill made 39. For KKR, Sunil Narine picked up three wickets by giving away 33 runs.
To be honest, we still believed that we could win. This teaches us that we should never give up until the last ball. This will be a great morale-booster for us. We want to make winning a habit. I haven’t been in great form. Tonight, I went out and played as late as possible. The bowlers were quick and I tried to use their pace, and that worked to my advantage.
Venkatesh Iyer
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. The wicket was quite good to bat, I was just trying to execute my plans. Me and Nitish had a good partnership. Unfortunately somewhere we lost our way but Lord Rinku saved the day.
Venkatesh Iyer
The most dramatic finish in the history of IPL. 29 chased down of the last over. Great skills shown by Rinku Singh. #KKRvsGT
— Venkatesh Prasad (@venkateshprasad) 1681048709000As a bowler I'm always trying to hit the right area. We got what we wanted. We wanted 190 and we got 200. As a bowling unit we got enough to defend, but sometimes in T20 even 250 does not look good. Take positives from this, it's still early in the competition and learn from it. Definitely not [on if this defeat will hurt morale]. Chin up and keep smiling and we come back stronger and stronger. It's good and something new is happening in T20, it makes you mature and I feel it's very good for the game of cricket [on the new rules]. For my future it's great, leading the team in IPL gives you lots of knowledge for the future. Good learning for me as a player and as a captain.
Rashid Khan
It's a tough game for us, especially for me as a captain. You need 30 plus in the last over, the same thing happened for us last year when we won. We will learn from it, more importantly a good game of cricket and the fans would have loved it. It was more about what he is most comfortable with, to trust his plans [on Yash Dayal's plans]. Rinku played unbelievable shots and credit goes to him for the way he played and for the way he finished. Keep it simple, hit the right area consistently and that's what T20 is all about.
Rashid Khan
𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗨 𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗛! 🔥 🔥 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸! ⚡️ ⚡️ Take A Bow! 🙌 🙌 28 needed off 5 balls & he has taken @KKRiders home… https://t.co/Nuau3C93sE
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) 1681048893000
Enjoying a lot more (this season). Last year something was off. This year I came in after a lot of runs in domestic. Franchise retained me, showed confidence in me. Support staff has been helping me a lot since we started our camp here. Have been working really hard. It was tough. I got injured in World Cup. Didn't do well in couple of IPL seasons. Very important for us to keep doing well at whatever level. If we keep doing well, playing for country will happen automatically. Want to thank trainers and physio at NCA, and also here. I had surgery after last IPL and was out for a few months.
Vijay Shankar
Electing to bat, Gujarat Titans rode on Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar's fifties to post a mammoth 204 for four against Kolkata Knight Riders in their Indian Premier League match. Hardik Pandya missed the game as he is unwell and in his place Rashid Khan led GT. Sudharsan made a 38-ball 53 while Shankar, who replaced Hardik, scored an unbeaten 63 off just 24 balls. Besides Sudharsan and Shankar, opener Shubman Gill made 39. For KKR, Sunil Narine picked up three wickets by giving away 33 runs.
