Watch: Rinku Singh produced a stunning 33-ball unbeaten 67 in a must-win IPL 2023 clash for Kolkata Knight Riders against Lucknow Super Giants. Unfortunately for him and KKR, they fell one run short – here are the highlights from Rinku’s spectacular IPL knock.

KKR came into the game knowing that nothing but a big victory would keep their qualification hopes alive. They won the toss and inserted LSG into bat, with the visitors mustering 176-8 after their allotted 20 overs.

Chasing 177, KKR got off to a blistering start, notching up 61-1 in the powerplay. LSG, though, pegged back the hosts by picking up the wickets of Jason Roy and Nitish Rana in quick succession. When Rinku walked out to the middle, KKR needed 95 runs off 60 balls, with seven wickets in hand.

KKR kept themselves afloat in the middle overs but when the seventh wicket fell – that of Sunil Narine, they still needed 41 runs off two overs. With Rinku at the crease, though, they kept believing and the left-handed batter nearly pulled off another miracle.

The 19th over went for 20 runs, with Rinku smashing Afghanistan quick Naveen-ul-Haq for three fours and a six. That brought the equation down to 21 runs needed off the final over.

Yash Thakur was tasked with bowling the 20th over and he began the over well, conceding a single off the first ball from the bat of KKR No. 10 Vaibhav Arora. From there on Rinku farmed the strike.

A wide and two dot balls followed – the ask became stiffer as KKR needed 18 runs off three balls to win the match. Rinku then whipped a six over deep mid-wicket to bring it down to 12 off 2. The penultimate ball of the over went for four through extra cover, while the final ball was thumped flat over the fielder at long on for six.

It was not enough to secure victory for KKR but this innings only highlighted how much Rinku had grown in stature in IPL 2023. He hit six fours and four sixes during the course of his knock and looked comfortable against both pace and spin.

Earlier in the competition, with KKR needing 29 runs off five balls against Gujarat Titans, he had hit Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes to seal the deal, and power KKR to a historic run-chase.

IPL highlights: Watch Rinku Singh’s sensational knock here

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