Rinku Singh smashed five successive sixes to take KKR over the finishing line against GT.
Chasing 205 to win, KKR needed 29 off the last over. While Umesh Yadav took a single on the first delivery, Rinku smashed left-arm pacer Yash Dayal for five successive sixes to seal the deal.
After the game, KKR head coach Chandrakant Pandit heaped praise on Rinku Singh for his last over heroics.
“In 43 years of my cricket career, being coach, playing cricket, first class cricket and international, I’ve previously seen two innings. One is Ravi Shastri scoring six sixes in the Ranji Trophy, and second was last ball sixes by Javed Miandad in Dubai and after that I’m seeing you,” Pandit said in a video posted by KKR on Twitter.
The coach also hailed Umesh for rotating strike on the very first ball of the last over.
“So, somebody has scored 1 run in that last over first ball. And also we must also appreciate Nitish, Venkatesh.”
Rinku Singh has been receiving plaudits from all quarters ever since he pulled off a heist for KKR. His teammate Venkatesh Iyer hailed him as “Lord”.
"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," Venkatesh 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," he added.
Rinku Singh will be next seen in action during KKR’s match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Eden Gardens on April 14.