GT vs KKR: Rinku Singh powered Kolkata Knight Riders to a dream win over Gujarat Titans in the 13th match of IPL 2023. The young Indian star produced magic with his bat as he smashed five sixes in five balls of the last over to take KKR home out of nowhere.
KKR were done and dusted, especially after the hat-trick from Rashid Khan in the 17th over. Rashid got the wickets of Russell, Narine, and Thakur as KKR's hopes of a win were rested to bed. But Rinku Singh had other thoughts. Having his back against the walls, the Southpaw scored 28 runs in the last 5 balls against Yash Dayal to produce one of the most thrilling IPL games. KKR scored 31 in the final over. They chased down 29 in the final over, which is now the record for the highest target achieved in the final over of an inning in IPL history. Rinku ended his heroic innings on a score of 48 from 21 balls.
Before this, Venkatesh Iyer kept KKR in the hunt with his blistering fifty. After the loss of the first two wickets, Iyer and Nitish Rana provided stability before the duo launched in the middle overs. The duo notched a 100-run stand but Joseph got wickets of both of them as KKR went in a big hole. Rashid's hat-trick would have put the curtains if not for Rinku to produce the finish of his life.
Talking about Gujarat, they were good in the game. GT scored well without Pandya and hit a massive 204-run total. The likes of Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar produced brilliant show. While Sudharsan anchored the batting, Shankar played a jaw-dropping knock as he struck over 260 and hit 63 off 24 balls.
GT's Playing XI:
Shubman Gill, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Vijay Shankar, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan (c) Alzarri Joseph, Josh Little, Yash Dayal, Mohammed Shami
KKR's Playing XI:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Nitish Rana (c), N Jagadeesan, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Umesh Yadav, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy
