Kolkata Knight Riders saw the most dramatic finish to an Indian Premier League match as Rinku Singh won them the match by smashing five successive sixes in the last over against the Gujarat Titans. KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit described Rinku’s incredible hitting as a miracle.
After losing the toss, KKR conceded 204 runs at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In response, KKR lost early wickets but Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana stitched a 100-run partnership for the third wicket. However Rashid Khan came up with a fantastic hattrick to derail the KKR innings but before that, it was Alzarri Joseph, who removed the well-set Venkatesh and Rana to open the floodgates.
Ultimately KKR needed 29 runs off the last over from Yash Dayal and Rinku made it happen while even the fans thought it was not possible for the Knights to win it from there.
After the thrilling win, head coach Pandit shared his thoughts with Cricbuzz in an interview. He hailed the southpaw for his exceptional effort. “Well, it was a miracle, no doubt. It was a miracle that Rinku Singh could bat that way. But we were never short on our collective self-belief and Rinku’s self-belief,” Pandit stated.
Pandit shared that there was no certainty of a win from that position but considering how uncertain T20 cricket is we did not give up hope especially when Rinku was there in the middle. “No coach can say with surety that his team can win from that stage. But we know the unpredictability that a T20 game is all about. So, you do not have to give up hope, particularly when Rinku was in the middle,” he added.
Coach Pandit shared that Gujarat had scored 45 runs in the last two overs of their innings courtesy of some good hits from Vijay Shankar. However, he understood that KKR also needed one such finish to win the game. “Look, they [Gujarat Titans] scored 45 from the last 12 balls and we needed 43 in a similar situation. My thinking was if that can happen with them, anything can happen to us too. That was what we spoke about in the middle.”
The veteran coach also shared that when 28 runs were left off five deliveries, he thought it was only mathematically possible and practically there was not much chance. However, Rinku made it possible. “In all honesty, 28 runs in five balls is virtually impossible, it’s only a mathematical possibility. But miracles do happen and Rinku pulled off that miracle,” he explained the emotions.
Rinku started slow but finished with a flurry of sixes and helped his team to win one of the most dramatic matches in T20 history.
KKR have now won two out of their first three matches this season and will now travel back home and prepare for the upcoming match against SRH at the Eden Gardens on April 14.
