Indian batsman Rinku Singh blasted five sixes on the final five balls as Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 205 to stun champions Gujarat Titans in an IPL thriller yesterday.
The left-hander turned the chase on its head with an unbeaten 21-ball 48, after Kolkata slipped to 155-7 following Rashid Khan’s hat-trick at the world’s biggest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad.
Kolkata needed 29 from the final over off Yash Dayal.
Rinku took strike after Umesh Yadav’s single on the first ball to send five hits over the fence and silence a raucous home crowd.
The chase was set up by a 40-ball 83 by impact player Venkatesh Iyer, who put on a 100-run third-wicket stand with skipper Nitish Rana, who made 45.
“Tonight was another example that we will never give up as a team,” Iyer said after the three-wicket win.
“The wicket was quite good to bat and I was just trying to execute my plans.”
Iyer, who came on in place of Suyash Sharma under the new impact player rule, fell to Alzarri Joseph and Rashid soon took over to claim his first Indian Premier League hat-trick.
Rashid, a champion leg-spinner who now has four hat-tricks in T20 cricket, went for a celebratory sprint after sending back Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur.
But little did Rashid know Rinku and Kolkata would have the last laugh.
“A tough game for us, especially as a captain,” said Rashid, standing in as skipper for the unwell Hardik Pandya.
“That is what T20 is all about, it is about entertainment.”
After two straight wins, two-time champions Kolkata took second spot in the 10-team table, behind leaders Rajasthan Royals. It was a first defeat of the season for Gujarat, who won the league in their debut campaign last year.
Earlier Gujarat’s Vijay Shankar smashed five sixes in his 24-ball 63 as Gujarat took 45 runs from the final two overs to reach 204-4.
Shankar stood out for Gujarat with his blitz and key partnerships including an unbeaten 51-run fifth-wicket stand with David Miller, who made two.

BRIEF SCORES
Kolkata Knight Riders 207 for 7 (Venkatesh 83, Rinku 48*, Rana 45, Rashid 3-37, Joseph 2-28) beat Gujarat Titans 204 for 4 (Vijay 63*, Sai Sudharsan 53, Narine 3-33) by three wickets

Markande, Tripathi lead Hyderabad to first win of IPL
Indian spinner Mayank Markande’s 4-15 and an unbeaten 74 by Rahul Tripathi gave Sunrisers Hyderabad their first IPL win this season as they thrashed Punjab Kings by eight wickets yesterday.
Skipper Shikhar Dhawan hit an unbeaten 99 off 66 balls in Punjab’s 143-9 after Markande got the key wickets, including big-money signing Sam Curran for 22, in Hyderabad.
Tripathi led the chase and put on an unbeaten 100-run stand with skipper Aiden Markram (34) after former champions Hyderabad lost their openers, with Harry Brook out for 13.
Markram smashed three successive boundaries before Tripathi hit the winning runs as Hyderabad bounced back from their opening two losses.
Hyderabad’s bowlers set up the victory after Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck with the first ball of the match and left-arm quick Marco Jansen followed up with two more strikes.
Express bowler Umran Malik also took two wickets, but was hammered for two sixes and a four in his final over by Dhawan. Markande ruled with his leg spin to mark a memorable debut for Hyderabad.
The left-handed Dhawan reached his second successive IPL fifty but received little support from the rest of his team.
Punjab fell to 88-9 in 15 overs before Dhawan put on a final-wicket stand of 55 with Mohit Rathee, who faced just two balls. Dhawan started the final over on 91 but T Natarajan denied the opener a hundred as the batsman fell one short after a six off the final ball.

BRIEF SCORES
Sunrisers Hyderabad145 for 2 (Tripathi 74*, Markram 37*, Arshdeep 1-20) beat Punjab Kings 143 for 9 (Dhawan 99*, Markande 4-15, Jansen 2-16) by eight wickets