Rinku nearly pulls off another heist as LSG beat KKR, enter IPL 2023 playoffs

Rinku Singh nearly did it again!

The pocket-sized dynamite almost pulled off a repeat of the miracle that he had performed for Kolkata Knight Riders against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad last month after launching an all-out assault against the Lucknow Super Giants in Kolkata on Saturday.

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Rinku had smashed five sixes off left-arm seamer Yash Dayal at the Narendra Modi Stadium on 9 April to guide KKR to one of the most memorable victories in the rich history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This time around, he was facing a different ‘Yash’ — right-arm pacer Yash Thakur — with the objective of scoring 21 off six deliveries. And once again he was off strike at the start of the 20th, and only got back to the striker’s end with a single off the first ball.

Though he conceded a couple of wides under pressure, Thakur ensured the job became nearly an impossible one by bowling two dots in the first half of the over, leaving Rinku needing to smash three consecutive sixes to pull off another heist. Rinku did collect two maximums, only for them to be separated by a four that came off a drive through the extra cover region.

The left-handed batter, playing against the team that is based in his native state of Uttar Pradesh, remained unbeaten on 67 off 33 deliveries — his highest score in the IPL and also one of the best knocks of his career.

Read | First reaction is satisfaction, says Krunal as LSG enter playoffs

But there was only so much Rinku could’ve done to almost single-handedly salvage a win for his team when the Knight Riders once again threw away good starts and dished out an otherwise sub-par performance that has been the hallmark of their campaign in the 16th season of the league, where they finish at the seventh spot in a 10-team table.

Pooran to the rescue

Lucknow’s performance in what was the final game of the season at the Eden Gardens wasn’t very different from what they dished out in a similarly close win over Mumbai Indians at home earlier this week.

LSG got off to a slow start after being invited to bat by the opposition captain; the decision to bring Karan Sharma back into the lineup hardly paid any dividend as he was the first to depart, succumbing to a short delivery from Harshit Rana.

Opener Quinton de Kock briefly tried reviving the innings with a solid second-wicket partnership with Prerak Mankad worth 41, only for Vaibhav Arora to strike twice in the seventh over, removing Mankad and hard-hitting Australian Marcus Stoinis in the same over, the latter departing for a two-ball duck.

Kolkata then had Lucknow on the mat as spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy removed skipper Krunal Pandya and de Kock respectively, reducing them to 73/5 shortly after the halfway mark.

Despite the procession to the dugout, Nicholas Pooran’s arrival at the crease would’ve instilled the LSG camp with hope and sure enough, the West Indian did not hesitate in taking the attack to the opposition right away, as he had done numerous times in what has been one of his better seasons in the IPL.

Chakravarthy removed de Kock at the start of the 11th over; Pooran arrived at the crease and went four, four and six in his first three deliveries to announce himself at the centre and instantly push Chakravarthy and the Knight Riders to the backfoot.

Pooran found ideal support in Ayush Badoni, who filled in with the fours and sixes if they weren’t coming off his senior batting partner’s bat, as they pair stitched a match-defining partnership worth 74 for the sixth wicket. Both batters would then depart within a few deliveries of one another, with Pooran perishing right after bringing up his second half-century of the season with back-to-back sixes. His knock, however, ensured Lucknow got within touching distance of the 180-mark.

Kolkata crumble again

The only way KKR could have stayed mathematically alive for the IPL 2023 playoffs was to go past Rajasthan Royals’ Net Run Rate (NRR) and hope other results on Sunday also went their way. For that to happen, Kolkata had to pull off the improbable task of chasing the 177-run target down in a little under nine overs.

Kolkata openers Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer, though, appeared to have had that outlandish target in mind when they smashed Mohsin Khan and Naveen-ul-Haq all over the park to collect 30 runs in the first two overs. The pair would go on to collect 59 runs in five overs without losing a wicket, and though Iyer would depart off the penultimate delivery of the powerplay for 24, the openers had given Kolkata a solid foundation to sign their campaign off with a victory at home.

Unfortunately for them and the legion of KKR fans at the Eden, the Nitish Rana-led side once again were guilty of throwing away a solid start. Nitish managed to collect one boundary before getting foxed by a googly from Ravi Bishnoi that appeared to have stopped on him, chipping it towards extra cover for a sitter and giving the young leg-spinner his 100th T20 wicket as a result.

Lucknow then inflicted a body blow to Kolkata’s hopes after Krunal got one to hold its line after pitching along middle, with the ball staying low, beating Roy’s defence and crashing onto timber, sending the well-set Englishman, who until that point had been a major threat, back to the hut for 45.

From collecting 59 in their first five overs, Kolkata could collect just 49 in their next nine overs for the loss of four wickets. It was at this phase where the Knight Riders allowed the game to slip out of their grasp despite the solid start to give Lucknow the upper hand and a shot at sealing their place in the top four without having to depend on the Sunday results.

In Photos: LSG pip KKR by one run in last-ball thriller, enter playoffs

Andre Russell gave a glimmer of a hope by smashing Bishnoi — the standout bowler from either side in the game — for a straight six, only for him to get his off-stump flattened the very next delivery. Shardul Thakur and Sunil Narine, both of whom are more than capable of tonking a few sixes in a short space of time, departed inside the 18th over, leaving Rinku the task of 41 to win off the last 12 balls with three wickets in hand.

That Rinku managed to give Lucknow a genuine scare and bring the margin of defeat down to just one run highlights the class act that he is and why he has more than made a solid case for himself this season as far as India selection is concerned.

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