‘After Shastri’s six sixes and Miandad’s last-ball six, I am seeing you’ - Chandrakant Pandit on Rinku Singh’s final-over heroics

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) head coach Chandrakant Pandit lavished massive praise on Rinku Singh following his thrilling final-over heroics against Gujarat Titans on April 9. Notably, Rinku shifted gears in the final five balls of the chase and hammered five consecutive sixes to snatch the game away from the defending champions. 

The Uttar Pradesh-born batter was at his lethal best when he took the onus of steering the side to a historic win at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad when Nitish Rana and Co. required 29 runs off the final over. What made the chase even more interesting was the fact that the Titans' stand-in skipper Rashid Khan picked a hat-trick to help his side claw their way back into the contest. Additionally, Rinku was on the crease with eight runs off 14 balls in the penultimate over. 

Facing Yash Dayal in the final five balls of the contest, Rinku blasted five sixes to win the game for his side, which earned massive praises from coach Pandit and the cricketing world. Meanwhile, the KKR coach placed him alongside legends Ravi Shastri and Javed Miandad.

“In 43 years of my cricket career, being coach, playing cricket, first class cricket and international, I've previously seen two innings. One is Ravi Shastri scoring six sixes in the Ranji Trophy, and second was last ball sixes by Javed Miandad in Dubai (Sharjah) and after that I'm seeing you (Rinku),” Pandit told in the dressing room.

The 25-year-old batter concluded the innings unbeaten with a score of 48 runs off just 21 balls, laced with one boundary and six maximums. Rinku joined KKR in 2018 for INR 80 lakh and has featured in 20 matches thus far with a tally of 349 runs. With a second win on the trot, Rana’s Knight Riders host Sunrisers Hyderabad at the iconic Eden Gardens and will look to add another win on April 14.