IPL 2023: On Sunday, cricket fans witnessed two extraordinary performances in the 13th game of the Indian Premier League. The defending champion Gujarat Titans locked horns with the two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Hardik Pandya was unwell, so it was Rashid Khan who led GT last night. He won the toss and elected to bat first. Notably, Rashid also led GT in a game last season in Hardik’s absence.
Batting first, the GT openers got out after getting the start. But the defending champion had some good contributions in the middle. The “Man of the Match” from the last match, Sai Sudharsan, scored yet another half-century. He made a 38-ball 53. GT was on course to get a total of around 180–182. But a late cameo from Vijay Shanker took them past the 200-run mark.
The all-rounder hit a 21-ball 50 and scored an unbeaten 63 off 24 balls. GT ended up scoring 204/4 in 20 overs. It was a winning total because none of the IPL teams scored 200 or more runs against them so far in the IPL. For KKR, Sunil Narine picked up 3/33 in his four overs.
Rashid Khan takes the first Hat-trick in the IPL 2023
In the second inning, KKR tried N Jagadeesan as an opener along with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, but that move didn’t work. Jagadeesan made just 6 off 8, while Gurbaz looked good for a while and got out for 15 runs. But after that, KKR skipper Nitish Rana added 100 runs with all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, who came as an “impact player.”
Both batters hit boundaries at will and gave the upper hand to KKR in the chase. But Alzarri Joseph broke the partnership, dismissing Nitish for 45. Iyer, who scored a 26-ball fifty, also became the second victim of Joseph. He made 83 off 40 balls, with five sixes and eight fours in it. Kolkata still had some big hitters left in the team, but then came a brilliant over from GT stand-in skipper Rashid Khan, who completed the first hat-trick of IPL 2023.
Watch: Rashid Khan became first bowler with a hat-trick in IPL 2023
Rashid came out to bowl his last over during the 17th over of the inning. He dismissed Andre Russell (1) on the first ball of the over, who tried to pull the ball but didn’t make contact. The ball took the edge, and the wicketkeeper took the catch. On the second ball, Sunil Narine tried to play a big shot and was caught at the leg-side boundary. To complete his hat-trick, Rashid dismissed Shardul Thakur on a googly, which hit the batter on the pads, and he was given LBW.
KKR lost four wickets for just one run at that time. It looked like GT would register a big victory. But the last over changed the complexation of the game. Rinku Singh smashed five consecutive sixes off Yash Dayal to register a historic win for KKR.
Records tumble after Rashid Khan’s hat-trick vs KKR
- Rashid Khan registered his fourth hat-trick in T20 cricket. He is the only bowler in the world to take a hat-trick in the CPL, T20I, BBL, and IPL.
- Rashid is also the only bowler with four hat-tricks in domestic T20 competitions.
- He became the fourth bowler after Makhaya Ntini (CSK), Pravin Tambe (RR), and Yuzvendra Chahal (RR) to take a hat-trick against KKR.
- This was also the first hat-trick for Gujarat Titans in the history of the Indian Premier League.