Ahmedabad, (Samajweekly) Gujarat Titans’ stand-in captain Rashid Khan credited Rinku Singh for the way he finished off a chase of 205 for the Kolkata Knight Riders, hitting five sixes on the last five balls to script an improbable heist, saying that the left-handed batter played ‘some unbelievable shots’.
Kolkata needed 29 runs off the final over for an unlikely win against Gujarat at the Narendra Modi Stadium. After Umesh Yadav took a single off Yash Dayal, carnage followed as Rinku smashed five successive sixes on the last five balls over wide long-off, backward square leg and long-off, followed by clearing long-on fence twice.
“It was more about bowling the ball that he was comfortable with. Rinku played some unbelievable shots. He tried his best deliveries but it did not work. Credit goes to the batter the way he finished,” said Rashid in the post-match presentation ceremony.
Rinku’s thrilling efforts meant Rashid taking the first hat-trick of IPL 2023 was relegated as a footnote. Bowling in the 17th over, Rashid dismissed Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur to record a sensational hat-trick.
“Just keep it simple. Hit the right area consistently. If you miss your lengths, you saw what happened. As a bowler, I am always trying my best to hit the right areas,” he added.
With Gujarat facing their first loss of the competition, Rashid hoped the fans watching the game at the venue and around the world would have enjoyed watching a match full of twists and turns.
“A tough game for us, especially as a captain. That is what T20 is all about, it is about entertainment. Same things happened to us last year when we were on the winning side. A good game of cricket and hopefully the fans would have liked it.”
For Gujarat, B. Sai Sudharsan smashed his second successive half-century of the tournament through 53 off 38 balls while Vijay Shankar slammed a sensational 63 not out off just 24 balls to take Gujarat to 204/4, including 45 runs coming off the last two overs.
“We got what we wanted. We wanted 190-plus and we got more than 200. We had enough runs to defend but in T20s, sometimes, 250 is not enough to defend. Lots of things for us to learn and we have to take positives out of this game and come back stronger.”
“Chin up, keep smiling and it was a bad day for us as a bowling unit. Next game, we try our best to come back stronger,” stated Rashid.
The Afghanistan leg-spinner signed off by praising impact player rule. “It is good, something new happening in the format. It makes you mature and I feel it is very good for the game of cricket.”
