Rinku on a roll

Ahmedabad, April 9

The gargantuan Narendra Modi Stadium proved to be too small and an asking rate of 29 too less for Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rinku Singh, who hammered five consecutive sixes to seal a miraculous three-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in the IPL here today.

Just when it seemed everything was lost for KKR after wily Afghanistan spinner and stand-in captain Rashid Khan took a hat-trick in the 17th over to reduce KKR to 155/7, Rinku (48 not out off 21 balls) did the Houdini Act to eke out one of the most memorable wins in the history of the IPL.

KKR needed 29 runs in the final over to attain the winning target of 205. Umesh Yadav took a single to give the strike to Rinku. With 28 needed off the last five balls, Rinku took the aerial route on all five deliveries to conjure up magic hardly ever seen before in an IPL game. Even as a wave of jubilation spread in the KKR camp, the Titans dugout went silent.

Venkatesh Iyer was the other hero for KKR on the day. The 28-year-old smashed 84 off 40 deliveries as the two-time champions looked set to chase down the target. The left-handed batter’s 100-run partnership with captain Nitish Rana (45 off 29 balls) was the cornerstone of KKR’s fightback and came just days after both the batters had failed in their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rashid, who was leading the team in the absence of an unwell Hardik Pandya, then weaved magic in the 17th over, dismissing the dangerous West Indian middle-order batter Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur off the first three deliveries of his last over.

Rinku, though, unleashed his full fury to silence the crowd and leave the Titans fielders looking skyward.

Earlier, a captivating batting display from Gujarat Titans’ Vijay Shankar and a fine half-century from young top-order batter Sai Sudharsan saw the defending champions put on a formidable total on the board.

Sudharsan, who had scored an unbeaten 62 against Delhi Capitals in their previous match, struck 53 off 38 balls, studded with three fours and two sixes, while Shankar took just 24 balls to score an unbeaten 63, embellished with four boundaries and five sixes.

Young Shubman Gill too came to the party, scoring a feisty 39 and sharing a 67-run partnership with Sudharsan before he was dismissed by Narine.

Brief scores: Gujarat Titans: 204/4 in 20 overs (Shankar 63*, Sudharsan 53; Narine 3/33); Kolkata Knight Riders: 207/4 in 20 overs (Iyer 83, Rinku 48*, Rana 45; Rashid 3/37, Joseph 2/27).