(ESPNCRICINFO) – This is what they mean when they say truth is stranger than fiction.

Chasing 205, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Impact Player Venkatesh Iyer and their captain Nitish Rana had kept them in the game by adding 100 runs 9.1 overs. Alzarri Joseph dismissed both, and then Rashid Khan picked up a hat-trick to kill the contest. At least that’s how it appeared.

But, just then, Rinku Singh rose to the occasion. When Knight Riders needed 39 off eight balls, Rinku was on 8 off 14. He hit the last two balls of the 19th over, bowled by Josh Little, for a six and four.

With 29 required from the last over, ESPNcricinfo’s Forecaster gave Knight Riders a 1.29% chance of winning. After all, no team had chased down that many in the 20th over of a T20 game. The previous best was 23, by Sydney Sixers against Sydney Thunder in 2015, and Rising Pune Supergiants against then Kings XI Punjab in 2016.

Umesh Yadav took a single off Yash Dayal’s first ball, and then Rinku went 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 to script a win that will be talked about for a long, long time.

Knight Riders’ opening woes
In Rahmanullah Gurbaz and N Jagadeesan, Knight Riders had their third opening pair of the season in as many games. In fact, since the start of IPL 2022, they have used nine different opening pairs in 17 matches – Delhi Capitals are second with five, also in 17 games – and have had starts of 30 or better only twice. It was no different on Sunday. Mohammed Shami and Little, who came in as an impact substitute for B Sai Sudharsan, removed Gurbaz and Jagadeesan inside four overs with just 28 on the board.

Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana threaten to take the game away
Knight Riders finished the powerplay on 43 for 2. The field restrictions were lifted, but Iyer and Rana didn’t have a problem in sending the ball to the boundary, or over it. Iyer hit Dayal for a four and six in the seventh over. In the next, Rana smashed Joseph for two sixes.

Rashid’s first two overs went for 23. Sandwiched between them was a 17-run Dayal over. With 77 needed from seven overs, Knight Riders were well and truly alive, before Joseph’s double-strike to remove both set batters tilted the game towards Titans.

Rinku trumps Rashid’s hat-trick
Rashid had conceded 34 in his first three overs, but he almost won the game for his side with his final over. Knight Riders needed 50 from four overs with Andre Russell in the middle. It looked like Rashid had kept his one over only for Russell – he had dismissed him four times in 38 balls before this game. And with his first ball, he had Russell caught behind off an inside edge that bobbed up off the pad. Narine hit the next to deep midwicket, and Shardul Thakur was lbw off the third to give Rashid his record fourth hat-trick in T20 cricket. All three wickets came from googlies.

Rashid seemed to have sealed the game. Except Rinku had other ideas. With 28 needed from five balls, Dayal lost control. The next three balls were full tosses, and Rinku dispatched them over long-off, over deep-backward square leg, and again over long-off.

After a chat with Rashid and David Miller, Dayal bowled a back-of the-hand slower one into the pitch only for Rinku to clear long-on. With four needed from the last ball, another meeting was called, with Shubman Gill too joining in this time. Dayal bowled the last one short and outside off and Rinku hit it over his head. Even before the ball had cleared the boundary, Rinku took off in celebration, running towards his team-mates, who had rushed on to the field to embrace him.