Rinku Singh stars in Kolkata’s Super Over win over Lucknow in IPL, Gujarat beats Chennai

LUCKNOW, India (AP) - Rinku Singh smashed four straight sixes in his 83 not out and went on to hit the winning runs in the Super Over after his Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants had finished with the same score in the Indian Premier League on Sunday.

Singh, who also took four catches, helped Kolkata score 155-7 in 20 overs after it was down to 93-7 in 15 overs.

In reply, Rishabh Pant's 42 went in vain as Lucknow faltered to finish with 155-8 in 20 overs, and then ultimately lost the Super Over.

Lucknow could only manage one run for two wickets in the tiebreaker, which Kolkata overcame with ease as Singh hit a first-ball four.

It was Kolkata's second win of the season, with the team rising to eighth after eight games, while Lucknow dropped to 10th with its sixth loss in eight games.

Earlier on Sunday, Sai Sudharsan continued his fine form with 87 runs off 46 balls as Gujarat Titans strolled to an eight-wicket win over host Chennai Super Kings.

Sudharsan, who scored a hundred in the previous game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, hit seven sixes and four fours as Gujarat finished its successful chase on 162-2 in 16.4 overs in reply to Chennai's 158-7.

Apart from undefeated opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (74 not out off 60 balls), it was another top-order failure for Chennai, which was put in to bat and reduced to 37-4 in 8.2 overs. Despite Gaikwad's resistance, the hosts were unable to recover. Kagiso Rabada picked up 3-25 in four overs for Gujarat.

Gujarat moved to fifth in the standings with its fourth win in eight games. It was a fifth loss for Chennai in eight games as it slipped to sixth with six points.

Put into bat, Kolkata came undone against Mohsin Khan - the left-arm pacer took 5-23 in the second-best bowling performance for Lucknow in IPL history after Mark Wood's 5-14 against Delhi Capitals in 2023.

Kolkata was 31-4 after the powerplay, with Ajinkya Rahane (10), Tim Seifert (0), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (9) and Rovman Powell (1) all dismissed.

Raghuvanshi was out obstructing the field - trying to avoid a run-out. Cameron Green scored 34 runs, adding 42 off 28 balls with Rinku.

Kolkata kept losing wickets and was 129-7 at the start of the final over. Rinku then smashed four consecutive sixes off wrist spinner Digvesh Rathi.

Lucknow lost Mitchell Marsh (2) early, but Aiden Markram scored 31 and added 57 off 55 with skipper Pant. The hosts were cruising on 65-1 at the halfway stage, when things turned around.

Kolkata spinners Varun Chakravarthy (2-33) and Sunil Narine (1-23) choked the scoring, while pacers Vaibhav Arora (2-24) and Kartik Tyagi (1-41) also inflicted damage.

Lucknow crashed to 129-7 in 18.2 overs, but impact player Himmat Singh scored 19 off 10 balls to bring them close. Mohammed Shami hit a last-ball six to tie the scores.

Rabada struck first when Chennai in-form batter Sanju Samson was caught behind for 11 in the fourth over. Urvil Patel was caught for four three balls later.

Sarfaraz Khan fell to Mohammed Siraj for a golden duck, with left-arm spinner Manav Suthar claiming Dewald Brevis for two. Chennai's powerplay yielded only 28-3.

Gaikwad fought his own poor form to reach a sedate 50 off 49 balls, but he was not able to gain any scoring momentum. Shivam Dube's 22 and Karthik Sharma's 15 helped push the score past 150.

Gujarat's top order made short work of the chase. Shubman Gill scored 33, putting on 58 for the opening wicket with Sudharsan, who hit 50 off 33 balls.

Jos Buttler contributed 39 not out, adding 97 off 60 balls with Sudharsan, as the Titans polished off the easy win with 20 balls to spare.