Kolkata Knight Riders captain Nitish Rana gave credit to Rinku Singh after they defeated reigning champions Gujarat Titans by three wickets at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Sunday. 29 runs were needed off the final over, which was bowled by Yash Dayal and it looked like GT will win convincingly.
However, Rinku Singh had other plans as he snatched a win from the jaws of defeat to help his team win the humdinger contest. Singh smashed five consecutive sixes as he held his shape and timed the ball to perfection.
Dayal could not execute the yorker as he bowled three full tosses, which were dispatched over the boundary line by Rinku Singh. The fifth and sixth deliveries were slower balls and Singh was able to get the maximums on both deliveries.
In fact, Rinku was on 8 off 14 balls at one stage but finished with an unbeaten 48 off just 21 balls as he smashed 40 runs off the last seven balls he faced.
Nitish Rana said in the post-match presentation, “We had a little belief. Rinku did something like this last year, although we didn’t win that match. When the second six was struck, we started believing more because Yash Dayal wasn’t executing that well. As a captain, it’s important to have belief. But this is a 1 in a 100 chance for something like this to happen. We were good with the ball except the last two overs. Same thing with the bat – that over from Rashid put us on the back foot.”
He added, “Credit goes to Rinku Singh. The two points we have from this game are thanks to him. People asked me why Rinku Singh doesn’t get a bigger role, and always plays a small role. I want to say to those reporters if this is the second role, imagine what he can do with the first role. Last match he played a different role, and he did it well. To be honest, if I was batting and needed 30 off one over, the thought of having the belief would be there, but in your heart, you know what you’re capable of. I don’t have words for him.”
Meanwhile, Nitish Rana also played a key hand as he scored 45 runs from 29 balls and added a crucial alliance of 100 runs off 55 balls with Venkatesh Iyer (Impact player), who scored a fine knock of 83 off just 40 balls.
Kolkata Knight Riders will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Friday.
