Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Venkatesh Iyer gave massive credit to his teammate Rinku Singh for pulling off a stunning victory against Gujarat Titanns on Sunday evening. It rained sixes at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as Rinku smacked young Yash Dayal for five straight maximums, guiding KKR to a 3-wicket win.
Gujarat Titans stand-in captain Rashid Khan claimed a hat-trick in the 17th over which shifted the momentum completely in the hosts’ favour but Rinku had some other ideas. With 29 required off the last six balls, he scripted one of the most dramatic finishes in IPL history.
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Rinku remained unbeaten on 48 from 21 balls as KKR snatched a miraculous three-wicket win from the jaws of defeat. While Rinku’s knock earned him a new moniker “lord" from his teammate Venkatesh Iyer, who himself slammed a 40-ball 83.
“It was a nail-biting finish, extremely happy that we won the game. Our coach has always said that we can score 200 on any given day. Honestly, the wicket was quite good to bat. When the target is 200, you can’t have silent overs. I was just trying to execute my plans," Iyer said after the match.
“Me and Nitish had a good partnership. Unfortunately, somewhere we lost our way but Lord Rinku saved the day. To be honest, we still believed that we could win. This teaches us that we should never give up until the last ball." Iyer said the victory will be a “great morale-booster" for the team.
Iyer, who came out as an Impact Player for KKR, also talked about his own knock and suggested his plan to play late.
“We want to make winning a habit. I haven’t been in great form. Tonight, I went out and played as late as possible. The bowlers were quick and I tried to use their pace, and that worked to my advantage," said Iyer, talking about his 55-ball 100-run stand with KKR skipper Nitish Rana (45) for the third wicket.
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Gujarat Titans’ stand-in skipper Rashid also praised Rinku for playing an outstanding innings when all odds were stacked against his side.
Rinku came in when KKR needed 56 off 30 balls, but Rashid’s hat-trick almost sealed the game in the favour of the Gujarat Titans.
“It’s a tough game for us, especially for me as a captain. You need 30 plus in the last over, the same thing happened for us last year when we won. We will learn from it, and more importantly, a good game of cricket and the fans would have loved it. It was more about what he is most comfortable with, to trust his (Yash Dayal) plans," Rashid said.
Analysing Rinku’s knock, Rashid suggested that T20 cricket is just about keeping things simple and hitting the right area consistently.
“Rinku played unbelievable shots and credit goes to him for the way he played and for the way he finished. Keep it simple, hit the right area consistently and that’s what T20 is all about."
Rashid said at times even scores of 250 are not safe with his side losing the game on Sunday evening having scored 204/4 batting first.
“As a bowler, I’m always trying to hit the right area. We got what we wanted. We wanted 190 and we got 200.
“As a bowling unit, we got enough to defend, but sometimes in T20, even 250 does not look good. Take positives from this, it’s still early in the competition, and learn from it," he said.
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