Finance
With five balls remaining in the final over, Kolkata Knight Riders needed 28 runs to win, with Gujarat Titans looking likely to win after stand-in captain Rashid Khan took a hat-trick.
However, Rinku Singh smashed five consecutive sixes off Yash Dayal to complete the most unlikely heist in IPL history and give Kolkata a memorable three-wicket victory at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
B in his fifties Gujarat reached 204/4 in 20 overs thanks to Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar, who smashed Lockie Ferguson and Shardul Thakur for five sixes and two fours in the 19th and 20th overs, totaling 45 runs.
In response, Venkatesh Iyer smashed 83 off 40 balls and shared a 100-run partnership with captain Nitish Rana off 55 balls to lead Kolkata to victory. However, ‘ashid’s hat-trick in the 17th overturned the game in G’jarat’s favor before Rinku added another twist with his unbeaten 48 in a jaw-dropping display of strokeplay to seal a Kolkata victory.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz was out in the third over to a short ball from Mohammed Shami, with short leg holding on to the catch and avoiding a collision with substitute keeper KS Bharat. In the fourth over, Josh Little sent back N Jagadeesan by having him pull straight to deep square leg.
Iyer, who was brought in as a replacement for Suyash Sharma, made an immediate impact.
Suyash Sharma’s replacement, Iyer, got off to a quick start with an upper cut over the third man for six. Every shot from his bat was well-placed, such as the punch off Shami, the deft shot off Alzarri Joseph, and the pull off Dayal to hit a boundary in each of the last three power-play overs.
In the seventh over, after the field restrictions were lifted, Iyer pulled Dayal for four and six. Rana pulled and cut off Alzarri Joseph for two sixes in the next over. Rashid came on in the ninth over, but Iyer slog-swept him for six, and Rana pulled for four more in the 11th.
Suyash Sharma’s replacement, Iyer, got off to a quick start with an upper cut over the third man for six. Every shot from his bat was well-placed, such as the punch off Shami, the deft shot off Alzarri Joseph, and the pull off Dayal to hit a boundary in each of the last three power-play overs.
In the seventh over, after the field restrictions were lifted, Iyer pulled Dayal for four and six. Rana pulled and cut off Alzarri Joseph for two sixes in the next over. Rashid came on in the ninth over, but Iyer slog-swept him for six, and Rana pulled for four more in the 11th.
Iyer reached his fifty in 26 balls in the next over, flicking Dayal past short fine leg for four, followed by a brace of sixes over square leg and long-off. As Rana used the sweep and reverse-sweep against Rashid, the boundaries continued to blur. But, in the 16th over, Joseph broke the century partnership when Rana chipped straight to mid-off.
Iyer kept Kolkata in the game by hitting Little for two fours in the 15th over before finishing with a clean swing over long-off for six. In the next over, his blistering knock came to an end when he holed out to long-on off Joseph.
The crowd’s roar returned in the 17th over, when Rashid had Andre Russell caught behind off an inside edge, Sunil Narine caught at deep mid-wicket, and Shardul Thakur trapped lbw with a googly to complete a sensational hat-trick.
In the 19th over, Rinku had other plans, hitting Little straight down the ground for six and pulling him through square leg for four. Rinku smashed a hat-trick of sixes over wide long-off, backward square leg, and long-off with 29 needed off the final over, feasting on Dayal’s poor balls. He then hit a series of sixes over the long-on fence to give Kolkata an unfathomable victory.
Earlier, Sudharsan hit his second half-century of the tournament with 53 off 38 balls, while Shankar smashed a sensational 63 not out off just 24 balls to lift Gujarat above 200.
In an attempt to go big against Narine, Wriddhiman Saha top-edged a slog sweep, and Jagadeesan ran backwards to take a brilliant over-the-shoulder catch. While Sudharsan got off to a good start with a late cut off Narine for four, Shubman Gill was flawless in consecutive driven fours off Varun Chakaravarthy.
During their 67-run stand, the duo took to attacking the spinners, with Gill using his feet to loft for boundaries and Sudharsan holding his shape and dancing down the pitch for his lofted shots.
In the 12th over, Gill attempted a loft off Narine but holed out to long-on. Abhinav Manohar started his promotion to number four with a hat-trick off Umesh, but his innings was cut short by a deceptive googly from Suyash, which spun back to beat his inside edge and crashed into the stumps.
Sudharsan hit Thakur through mid-wicket for four runs before reaching fifty in 34 balls. But, against Narine, he holed out to long-off in the 18th over. Shankar provided the finishing touch with a top-edge on his pull for six runs with the score at 158/4 in 18 overs.
He followed it up by flaying a wide delivery over short third man for four, and he finished off Ferguson’s 25-run victory with a clean loft over long-off for six. In the final over, Shankar hit a hat-trick of sixes off Thakur via pull, loft, and slog to take Gujarat above 200, which proved insufficient in the face of Rinku’s unforgettable heist.
Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 204/4 in 20 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 53, Vijay Shankar 63 not out; Sunil Narine 3-33, Suyash Sharma 1-35) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 207/7 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 83, Rinku Singh 48 not out; Rashid Khan 3-37, Alzarri Joseph 2-27) by three wickets
Source:OCN
