IPL 2023: Rinku Singh’s 48* one of the three best innings this season so far. Top three innings in IPL 2023. Rinku Singh smashed 5 sixes in a row in the last over.
We have entered the third week of the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and so far, the tournament has already witnessed some of the best cricket already. As expected, the games have not been predictable, and we have had a great balance between the bat and ball thus far.
A few of the games have gone down to the wire and few teams stormed to the finish line without any fuss but one can’t question the excitement level that the league has offered thus far in the initial phase of the tournament.
Though there hasn’t been any century scored in the first 10 days of the tournament but there are some scintillating batting performances that would be etched in the minds of the hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe.
Let’s take a look at these breath-taking and memorable batting efforts since the start of this brand-new season of the IPL.
Top three innings in IPL 2023
Rinku Singh’s 48* vs Gujarat Titans at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
Arguably, one of the best finishes in all T20s and definitely so in IPL cricket. We witnessed a heist of epic proportions at Ahmedabad when the Gujarat Titans played host to the Kolkata Knight Riders.
In a topsy-turvy contest which swung like a pendulum, it was KKR who came out on top in a thrilling last ball finish courtesy of a superlative effort from the middle-order batter Rinku Singh.
The 25-year-old batter from Uttar Pradesh snatched an unlikely win for KKR from the jaws of defeat. Chasing 205 against the defending champions, KKR looked dead and buried after Rashid Khan’s hat-trick in the 17th over which meant the Knight Riders further needed 50 from 21 balls with just 3 wickets in hand.
The equation became 42 required off the last 2 overs and this is where Rinku Singh took charge. He first smashed a six followed by a boundary off Shami in the penultimate over which meant KKR needed a further 29 runs to seal the contest. It was looking pretty much unlikely at this stage for the Knight Riders but Rinku Singh did the unthinkable.
He first struck a powerful flat six over the covers on the second ball of the over bowled by seamer Yash Dayal, followed by one over deep backward square leg for another six. With 3 sixes needed off the last 3 balls, the left-hander did just the same to win the game for his franchise.
This was the highest ever runs scored in the final over of the successful run-chase in the IPL and one should say the evening belonged to the youngster from Uttar Pradesh.
Shikhar Dhawan’s 99* vs Sunrisers Hyderabad at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Hyderabad
Cricket has seen many a times when a batter wages a lone battle for his team while the rest struggle to get going. But these type of knocks are pretty much rare in the shortest format of the game, simply because of the nature of T20 cricket.
However, there is a knock in this IPL which is at par with any century that is scored in the format and these words came from the renowned cricket expert Harsha Bhogle on air and that is the 99* from Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan.
What was so special about this knock from Dhawan? It came on a losing cause, yes, but the manner in which the Punjab skipper accumulated runs was a masterclass in itself. The veteran opened the innings for the Kings and saw his teammates fall like nine pins one after the other and not a single top-order batter stayed with him for long. They were reduced to 22/3 well inside the powerplay and soon the scorecard read a sorry story, as the PBKS sinked further to 78/8 in the 13th over and 88/9 at the end of 15 overs.
It was now that Dhawan shifted gears. He first reached his second half-century of the season and then scored 52 of the 55 runs that PBKS made for the final wicket. He was left stranded on 99 but it will definitely go in history as one of the best in IPL history and arguably the best of this IPL so far.
PBKS however came on the losing side as SRH chased down 144 with almost 3 overs to spare.
Read More: IPL 2023, SRH vs PBKS: SRH present improved batting performance, register first victory this season
Tilak Varma’s 84*(46) vs Royal Challengers Bangalore at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
Tilak Varma was the lone shining spot in MI’s batting order last year and this edition, the left-hander has once again started strongly. Batting first against the RCB in what their first game of the season, Mumbai Indians started poorly with the scorecard reading 48/4 in the 9th over and the young Hyderabad batter came to the rescue of the 5-times IPL champs.
Many MI batters came and went courtesy of some excellent bowling performances, but Varma stood firm at the other end. With some support from the lower order, Varma managed to score boundaries and sixes (4 to be precise) which suddenly took MI past the 150-run mark which looked like impossible. He played well with the lower middle-order to help his side to 171/7; he ended at 84* with the next highest score of the innings being that of Nehal Wadhera who made 21.
This 84* from Varma is only the stepping stone for the youngster and MI would hope that Varma continues this form throughout the season.