Rinku has been special this year, every game when he’s there you can’t take it easy: Krunal Pandya

The second match of Saturday's (May 20) doubleheader in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed the clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. In a nail-biting thriller, LSG defeated the two-time champions by a solitary run. With this win, LSG booked their place in the IPL playoffs for the second time in a row.

KKR skipper Nitish Rana won the toss and invited the visiting side to bat first. Their plan of attack appeared to be brilliant, as they restricted LSG to 176 in 20 overs. Vaibhav Arora, Shardul Thakur, and Sunil Narine grabbed two wickets for KKR while Harshit Rana and Varun Chakravarthy picked one scalp each.

KKR openers Jason Roy and Venkatesh Iyer provided a solid start for the home side during the chase. Meanwhile, the middle-order batters failed to steady the innings in their short stay. However, KKR's rising sensation Rinku Singh stepped in and batted effortlessly, upsetting the LSG bowlers. He smashed an unbeaten 67 off 33 deliveries, but KKR were limited to 175 runs in 20 overs and lost the match by one run. 

LSG stand-in skipper Krunal Pandya was impressed by KKR left-handed batter Rinku Singh's power-hitting abilities. He stated that Rinku has been exceptional this year and that when he bats, no one can take it easy. 

“Rinku has been special this year, every game when he’s there you can’t take it easy,” Krunal said at the post-match presentation. 

I really don’t have words to define Rinku: Rana

Nitish Rana, the captain of KKR, expects to bounce back stronger next season following an unsuccessful edition. He too was full of praise for Rinku's performance, stating that he does not have words to describe him. He went on to say that if the youngster can bat like that in such a crunch situation, he can accomplish anything.

“The result wasn’t in our favour, but there are a lot of positives from the season. Hopefully we come back as a better team. You have to win back-to-back, and I feel bad since we had the ability finish games off.

“Looks like I have spoken Rinku all 14 times that I have held the mic after a match! I really don’t have words to define him. If he can bat that way in that situation, then he can do anything,” Rana said.