Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Rinku Singh was the hero for the team after his 48* in 21 balls helped defeat the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in their most recent IPL 2023 match.
GT had batted first and thanks to half-centuries form Sai Sudharsan and Vijay Shankar posted 204/4 in 20 overs. In reply, though Venkatesh Iyer (83) and Nitish Rana (45) laid a good platform, Rinku Singh had a tough task ahead of him as 48 runs were needed in the last 18 balls.
Mohammad Shami bowled the 18th over and gave away just five runs. Joshua Little bowled the 19th over and had given just 4 runs in the first 4 deliveries despite bowling two wides.
But then Rinku Singh flicked a switch and hammered a six and a four on the last two balls of the over, to bring the equation down to 29 runs in the last 6 balls.
He got strike with five balls remaining for the over bowled by Yash Dayal and hammered him for five sixes to gain an amazing win for KKR by 3 wickets.
His father Khanchand saw his son create magic on television.
He told ANI: "I didn't prepare him he did it all by himself. I didn't buy him a bat or anything else. After some time he played in the stadium and scored runs for his team. At that time I used to say to him that he should focus on his studies, he will gain nothing by playing cricket. He didn't focus on his studies at all. He scored runs in the tournament and everybody said that your kid plays well after that I told him that if you want to play cricket you can play cricket.”
IPL 2023: WATCH- Shreyas Iyer video calls Rinku Singh after his 5 sixes in an over helps KKR beat GT
While KKR fans celebrate Rinku's heroics, his father has bigger plans for the upcoming years.
“I am very happy with the way he won the match for KKR yesterday. In the future I want him to play cricket for the Indian cricket team," Khanchand said.
KKR will next face Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday at Eden Gardens in IPL 2023.
(ANI inputs)
