IPL 2023: Top moments from GT vs KKR in Ahmedabad

Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans on Sunday produced what will go down as one of the greatest matches in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). In a game that swung from one side to another several times, KKR emerged triumphant at GT’s own backyard, chasing down a stiff 205-run target in afternoon game of the Sunday double-header that went down to the very last delivery.

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In the process, the two-time champions ended the current title-holders’ four-match winning streak that stretched back to the last season, with the Knight Riders jumping to the second spot on the IPL 2023 points table with their second win in a row.

Read | ‘Rinku Singh! Remember the name!’, goes Twitter

Looking back at the events of the see-saw battle at the Narendra Modi Stadium, we bring to you five of the standout moments:

Gill joins the 2K club

The in-form Shubman Gill was once again among the runs, scoring 39 off 31 balls to become the second-youngest batter in the history of the Indian Premier League to go past the 2,000-run mark in the league. Gill, who entered this year’s IPL on the back of a terrific run for India across formats, beat the likes of Sanju Samson, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina, though the all-time record still belongs to Delhi Capitals’ Rishabh Pant. That wasn’t his only milestone today though, as he would also go past 200 fours in the league.

Shankar’s blitz helps GT cross 200

Vijay Shankar went berserk in the last two overs of the Gujarat Titans innings to help the defending champions go past the 200-mark after reaching 159/4 at the end of the 18-over mark. Shankar decimated Kiwi pacer Lockie Ferguson in the penultimate over, which went for 25 runs, while all-rounder Shardul Thakur went for 20 in the final over as Shankar brought up his fourth IPL half-century, and his first this season, in 21 balls and the fifty-stand with David Miller in just 15 deliveries.

Twitter had a field day after the blazing innings, which contained four fours and five maximums, bringing back the “3D player” memes.

Iyer keeps KKR afloat in tense chase

Rinku Singh’s last-over heroics would not have been possible towards the end had it not been for Venkatesh Iyer’s life-saving 83 off 40 balls that held Kolkata’s chase together and kept them in the hunt for the most part. Iyer, who once again came into the lineup as an ‘Impact Player’, helped KKR recover from a shaky start after they lost openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Narayan Jagadeesan early, stitching a 100-run third-wicket stand with Nitish Rana (45).

Iyer’s knock was laced with eight fours and five sixes with the batting all-rounder striking at more than 200. He managed to stitch a steady partnership with Rinku as well, with Kolkata cruising in the middle overs, before his dismissal off Alzarri Joseph’s bowling complicated things a little bit for the Knight Riders.

Rashid registers maiden IPL hat-trick

While Joseph bagged the prized wicket of Iyer in the 16th over to push KKR on the backfoot, it was Rashid Khan’s hat-trick in the following over that would well and truly put GT on top and dash the opposition’s hopes of victory. What was even more impressive was the fact that the stand-in GT skipper had gone for 35 runs in his first three overs, before turning things around in style.

The procession began with big-hitting all-rounder Andre Russell getting caught-behind for 1, with Gujarat successfully overturning the original decision of ‘Not Out’ after a sizeable nick was detected off the inside-edge. Rashid would dismiss another West Indian the very next delivery with Sunil Narine holing out to the man at deep midwicket.

Rashid would then make it three-in-three by trapping Shardul Thakur, the hero of KKR’s victory over RCB, leg-before, becoming the most successful bowler in T20 history in terms of hat-tricks. Had it not been for Rinku’s brutal assault, the Afghan star would’ve been the toast of the night.

Rinku Singh, remember the name!

Rinku Singh ensured he will be remembered for a very long time to come and his name will come up whenever there is a discussion on some of the most memorable knocks in T20 history as he powered Kolkata Knight Riders over the line from a near-hopeless situation.

Rinku had stitched a steady partnership with Iyer to keep Kolkata afloat, but watched helplessly as wickets fell in a heap at the other end as KKR crumble from 154/3 to 155/7. Him and Umesh Yadav could collect just five singles in the 18th over, leaving them needing 43 off 12.

A 14-run penultimate over somewhat kept them alive, but chasing down 29 in the final over is no easy task especially when a team is seven-down. Umesh was on strike at the start of the final over, bowled by Yash Dayal, which in hindsight might just be as valuable a single as Jack Leach’s at Headingley in Ashes 2019.

Dayal would then bowl three full tosses in a row while attempting to york Rinku out — and the southpaw would end up smacking each one out of the park. The equation came down to 10 off 2.

Read | ‘Rinku Singh! Remember the name!’, goes Twitter

Dayal tried a slower ball in the penultimate delivery. Rinku waited for the ball to come to him this time before smashing it down the ground over long on. The final delivery would be a near-replay of the previous one — Rinku smashing a slower ball from Dayal down the ground to etch his name in the history books!

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