Kolkata Knight Riders edged Lucknow Super Giants in a dramatic Super Over finish in the Indian Premier League on Sunday night.
The bottom placed sides were locked on 155 after regulation time, before man of the moment Rinku Singh needed just a single delivery to complete a record low chase of two runs in the tiebreaker.
Sunil Narine, who took 1-23 in the match proper, struck the first ball of the Super Over by removing fellow Trinidadian Nicholas Pooran. Rovman Powell then parried a catch just inside the rope into the magnetic hands of Rinku, leaving only one run on the board and Aiden Markram trudging off.
Impact replacement Himmat Singh (19 off 10) had earlier appeared set for a decisive late cameo, only to become the fourth batter to find Rinku in the deep. The KKR star had already produced an unbeaten 83 to drag his side to 155/7 after a sluggish start.
Spare a thought for Kartik Tyagi, whose pair of beamers in an angst-ridden final over opened the door for Mohammed Shami to launch the last ball for six and force the Super Over.
Mohsin Khan had earlier claimed a superb 5 23 for the Super Giants, before Rinku clobbered four consecutive sixes in the final over to salvage a workable total.
The contest swung on a knife-edge, with controversy thrown in.
Akshat Raghuwanshi was sensationally given out obstructing the field by the third umpire after turning back to make his ground, the ball striking his body and prompting a stormy exit.
Markram (31 off 27) and Rishabh Pant (42 off 38) kept the chase steady, mirroring Rinku’s tempo as the required rate crept above nine an over. They had moved to 65 for one when Markram holed out to long off, where Rinku completed a superb juggling effort on the rope.
Pant followed soon after, gloving behind to Tim Seifert while attempting a sprawling reverse ramp. Pooran’s single-figure dismissal deepened the trouble, and the slide continued when Mukul Choudhary picked out Rinku yet again.
Ayush Badoni (24 off 19) briefly revived hope before finding Anukul Roy at deep midwicket, and Rinku’s third catch - removing George Linde - left LSG running out of road before Tyagi’s meltdown set up the dramatic finale.
LUCKNOW SUPER GIANTS: Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Mukul Choudhary, George Linde, Mohammed Shami, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Rathi, Mohsin Khan.
Impact Replacements: Himmat Singh, Avesh Khan, Abdul Samad, Akshat Raghuwanshi, M Siddharth.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Ajinkya Rahane (capt), Tim Seifert (wk), Cameron Green, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi.
Impact Replacements: Manish Pandey, Finn Allen, Tejasvi Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Navdeep Saini.