'I didn’t want to give it': How Rinku Singh took Nitish Rana's favourite bat away from him

Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rinku Singh helped the Nitish Rana-led side stun defending champions Gujarat Titans on Sunday evening, with an electrifying knock that saw him hitting five sixes in a single over.  Chasing the target of 205 runs set by GT, KKR needed 28 runs to win the match in the last five balls. 25-year-old Rinku Singh then stepped up to the occasion and did the impossible by hitting five sixes in a trot.

In a video shared by the franchise after the match, KKR skipper Rana revealed an interesting episode involving Rinku before the match. Rana held a bat in his hand and said, “This was my match bat for the first two games. I played the whole Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with this and also played five to six matches last season with this bat. I changed my bat today”. Rana further revealed how the bat was used by Rinku Singh during his unbeaten match-winning knock of 48 runs off 21 balls.

“Today Rinku asked me for a bat. I didn’t want to give it, but someone brought it out from the inside. I was thinking that he (Rinku) would pick this bat because it has good pickup and it is a bit light according to my weight,” he added. Concluding his thoughts on the bat, a smiling Nitish Rana concluded by saying, “This is Rinku’s now, this not mine. He took it from me”.

Rinku Singh's 5 sixes, Vijay Shankar's fifty, Rashid Khans's hattrick & more

It is worth mentioning that alongside Rinku Singh’s five sixes in the final over, the GT vs KKR, IPL 2023 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad featured several other dramatic moments. In the first innings, Sai Sudharsan scored 53 off 38 for the defending champions, before Vijay Shankar hit 63 off 24 at a strike rate of more then 200. Shankar’s knock also included four fours and five sixes.

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Going ahead in the second innings, KKR lost the early wickets of Rahmanullah Garbaz and Narayan Jagadeesan. However, Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana then added 100 runs for the third wicket stand, before Rana’s wicket on 45 off 29. Meanwhile, Venkatesh reached the individual mark of 83 runs in 40 balls with the help of eight fours and five sixes, as GT pulled off another comeback.

Bowling the 17th over of KKR’s chase Rashid Khan registered the first hattrick of the season to bring GT back into the game. Interestingly, he got rid of three big hitters, i.e. Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur. While it looked like the hattrick would help GT win the match, Rinku Singh’s heroics in the last over made sure KKR end the game on high.