The 13th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 was played between the defending champions Gujarat Titans and the two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday, April 9. The match entirely belonged to Rinku Singh as he provided one of the greatest T20 finishes ever to help KKR win the match by 3 wickets.
Talking about the match, GT won the toss and opted to bat first, however the openers couldn’t provide a good start as Wriddhiman Saha departed after scoring only 17 runs. However, GT’s young middle order batter Sai Sudharsan joined hands with Shubman Gill and stitched a 67-run stand for the 2nd wicket and kept the scoreboard ticking at a good pace.
Brilliant chase by KKR
Later, Gill was trapped by veteran KKR spinner Sunil Narine on the score of 39 runs. Abhinav Tomar came at no.4 and played a little cameo of 14 runs which included 3 consecutive fours. However, fans got surprised when Vijay Shankar came ahead of David Miller but no one have imagined that he’d be in ‘God-mode’ today. Shankar smashed a half-century off just 21 balls and played a brilliant knock of 63 runs off 24 deliveries which included 4 fours and 5 sixes.
Chasing the target, KKR had a really bad start as they lost their first two wickets on the score of just 28 runs. But Venkatesh Iyer, who was introduced as an impact player, stitched a 100-run partnership with Rana. Iyer played an extraordinary knock of 83 runs off 40 deliveries which included 8 fours and 5 sixes.
However, later GT skipper Rashid Khan completely turned the game by taking a breathtaking hattrick and it looked like they will win the game from there easily as the wickets he took were of Andre Russel, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur but the evening belonged to Rinku who left everyone stunned by smashing 5 sixes in the final over the second innings. 29 were needed in the final over and Yas Dayal couldn’t defend it.
Here’s how the fans reacted:
Rinku >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Fraudsters of Mumbai Indians ????
— ????? ? ????? ?? (@DHARSH13686429) April 9, 2023
Shubham gill ko Jan bujh ke itna focus kr re the…. kkr fans ko jal ke raak hojane ke lia?
— Sachin Gari (@Gambhir_0705) April 9, 2023
If he's not playing for india from now on then I'm not watching t20is
— Vikas Dharmik (@vikasdharmik03) April 9, 2023
Last year he was close to doing something like this but this year finally did it
— Vikas Dharmik (@vikasdharmik03) April 9, 2023
Take him in Indian team he is the next ms dhoni kind of finisher?????
— amitjohnantony (@Amitjohnantony) April 9, 2023
Are bhai aram se ipl final nahi jitaya abhi
— Debajyoti Ghosh (@Realdebajyoti) April 9, 2023
This innings of Rinku Singh>> Entire career of Dhoni
— Broly Go!!! (@Brolysolo2) April 9, 2023
Dream for PSL to see these types of matches
— Nisanth (@27_nisanth) April 9, 2023
