As per News18 Cricket, it was an anxious match between KKR and GT who met in a T20 clash from Ahmadabad yesterday. In the final five deliveries, Rinku Singh blasted the match with five sixes in the 20th over driving Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a stunning 3-wicket win over Gujarat Titans (GT). The man kept his calm throughout the match and knowing to secure more than 29 runs at the end of the tough fight, he remained unbeaten on 48 as KKR overhauled the target of 205 runs and made their second win with 207/3 in the match.
It was an extraordinary finish where KKR was put in control of the chase of 205 against GT by Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana. Both of them batted well collecting regular boundaries, struck by Alzarri Joseph in his successive overs. After Rana left making 45 and Iyer with 83, things took a slight dramatic turn when a hat trick when the scalps of Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Shardul Thakur were all out for a golden duck each. At first, looking at the first innings score, the match seemed to be under GT’s grip when a tight over from Mohammed Shami followed leaving KKR 43 to win from the final two overs. Rinku Singh was finally able to cut through after a six and a four off the final two deliveries of the 19th over was bowled by Joshua Little.
The match by KKR was a golden win with an unthinkable approach and play by Rinku Singh defending their most competent power, the Gujarat Titans. Umesh Yadav took a single off the first delivery to give the strike to Rinku and then to no one’s belief, Yash ended up bowling three full tosses in a row, smashed by Rinku for a six each. A short length of delivery followed with the dire need of 10 for two when Rinku smashed over long-on for a six as well. He blasted it over for a six as well as triggering wild celebrations in the dug-out of KKR. His unbeaten performance was at last recorded at 48 off 21. It was a stunning collapse from 154/3 in 15.4 overs when KKR slumped to 157/7 in 17 overs. Rashid Khan’s 4th over resulted in three wickets and just a couple of runs. A quite unexpected turnout happened for GT as Rashid removed Shardul through a complete hat-trick winning KKR 155/7 in 16.3 overs, chasing 205.
A telling blow was given to Venkatesh by Iyer, as he landed into the match but Iyer ended up hitting one straight to long-on fielder Shubman Gill to hole out on 83 with excellent inning outcomes. As Iyer continued to pummel GT bowlers, he hammered one outside off through the palms of the fielder at mid-off for a tour. The sixth delivery in the arc for Iyer launched it over long off for a maximum. It was 17 runs from the over making KKR secure 149/3 in 15 overs. As Venkatesh was joined by Rinku Singh, it was a massive breakthrough for GT. Just as it appeared that KKR is losing it away from GT, Alzaari provided them with a golden ticket by getting rid of Nitish Rana.
This has been an excellent recovery for the KKR. Yash Dayal leaked 17 runs in his third over. It started with Iyer flicking the first delivery for a four before pulling the next into the crowd for a six. KKR captain Rana joined the party with a six of his own off the final delivery.
