The left-handed batter hammered 48 runs off just 21 deliveries and guided KKR to a three-wicket victory over the Ahmedabad-based franchise. Notably, this was the first defeat for GT in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023.
Rinku’s inning came after GT elected to bat first and posted a mammoth total of 204 for the loss of four wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Vijay Shankar was the standout performer for Gujarat, scoring 63 off just 24 balls. Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan also contributed 53 runs to GT’s total.
In reply, KKR didn’t start well and lost both their openers with 28 runs on the board. However, Venkatesh Iyer (83) and Nitish Rana (45) bailed the team out of danger. But the duo soon fell victim to Alzarri Joseph, and the Kolkata-based team was once again pushed on the back foot.
The further damage to KKR was done by GT’s stand-in skipper Rashid Khan who bagged a hattrick in the 17th over of the match. It was now when Rinku turned the game in KKR’s favour and handed GT their first defeat of the season.
Shreyas Iyer video called Rinku after his sensational inning and lauded the Uttar Pradesh cricketer for his brilliant performance. While Iyer started the conversation by saying, “Rinku Bhaiya Zindabad (Long live Rinku brother!)”, Rinku replied, “Bhaiya, kaise ho? (How are you, brother?) God’s plan!”.
The stand-in KKR captain Nitish, who is leading the side in Iyer’s absence, also joined the conversation and asked the latter, “Dekh raha tha ki nahi? Yaad aa rahi hai teri (Did you watch the innings? We are missing you),” KKR’s official Twitter handle posted the video of the same.
Here’s the video:
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