GT Vs KKR: Gujarat Titans’ Rashid Khan Takes First Hat-trick Of IPL 2023

Ahmedabad: Rashid Khan grabbed the first hat-trick of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (2023) in the first half of the double-header Sunday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. His amazing spell brought Gujarat Titans back in the match against Kolkata Knight Riders. He dismissed Andre Russell First, then Sunil Narine, and then Shardul Thakur on three consecutive deliveries.

Hat-trick for Rashid Khan.

The best T20 cricketer in the world.#GTvsKKR #GTvKKR #RashidKhan #IPL2023 #TATAIPL2023 pic.twitter.com/mFQoizmoZP

— TATAIPL 2023 #IPL2023 (@OFFICIALTATAIPL) April 9, 2023

Rashid Khan has created history with this as he now holds the record for most hat-tricks in the shortest format of the game. He has four T20 hat-tricks now and he is also the only cricketer in the world to take hat-trick in T20 International, BBL, CPL, and IPL.

However, the spotlight was soon taken away from the hat-trick after Rinku Singh rose as KKR’s hero and smashed five consecutive sixes on Yash Dayal’s bowling in the final over and turned the table on the hosts and lead the Knights to a thrilling 3-wicket victory.

Rinku Singh’s Five Sixes

With five balls left in the final over, Kolkata Knight Riders needed 28 runs to win, with a victory for Gujarat Titans looking imminent, especially after Rashid Khan took a hat-trick. But Rinku Singh smashed five successive sixes in the last five balls off Yash Dayal’s final over to complete the greatest heist in the history of IPL, giving Kolkata a memorable three-wicket victory.

The home crowd’s voice got louder in the 17th over when Rashid had Andre Russell caught behind off an inside edge, Sunil Narine caught at deep mid-wicket and trapped Shardul Thakur lbw with a googly to complete a sensational hat-trick.

But Rinku had other ideas, hitting Little straight down the ground for six and pulling him through square leg for four in the 19th over. With 29 needed off the final over, Rinku feasted on poor balls from Dayal by smashing a hat-trick of sixes over wide long-off, backward square leg, and long-off. He then hit successive sixes over the long-on fence to give Kolkata an improbable victory.

Brief scores: Gujarat Titans 204/4 in 20 overs (B Sai Sudharsan 53, Vijay Shankar 63 not out; Sunil Narine 3-33, Suyash Sharma 1-35) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 207/7 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 83, Rinku Singh 48 not out; Rashid Khan 3-37, Alzarri Joseph 2-27) by three wickets