Stand-in skipper Rashid Khan became first Gujarat Titans (GT) bowler to take a hat-trick in Indian Premier League (IPL) and first of the season. The Afghan leggie is the third captain in history of IPL to take a hat-trick as captain. The T20 speciallist now holds the record for most hat-tricks in the format's history.Β
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Rashid turned the game on his head with the wicket of Andre Russell in the 17th over. The faint edge off a lose ball ended in Srikar Bharat's gloves. Sunil Narine went for a big shot first ball but got fooled by the googly. Narine got caught by substitute fielder Jayant Yadav. Player of the match of previous game Shardul Thakur was the hat-trick wicket. The googly hit Thakur in front of the wickets as Rashid registered his maiden IPL hat-trick.
Rashid is the fourth bowler to take a hat-trick against KKR. Makhaya Ntini did it first for CSK in the inaugural season. Rajasthan Royals' (RR) Pravin Tambe repeated the feat in 2014. In the last season, Royals' leggie Yuzvendra Chahal took a hat-trick against two-time IPL champions as well.
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Despite Rashid's hat-trick, Titans lost the match by three wickets. Rinku Singh went ballistic in the final over and tonked left-arm pacer Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes and help his side register a three-wicket win at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedadad.
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βIt's a tough game for us, especially for me as a captain. You need 30 plus in the last over, the same thing happened for us last year when we won. We will learn from it, more importantly a good game of cricket and the fans would have loved it,β Rashid said in the post-match presentation.Β
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Dayal bowled full tosses and was not able to beat Rinku's bat once in the last over but Rashid said he trusted his plans. Β
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βIt was more about what he is most comfortable with, to trust his plans [on Yash Dayal's plans]. Rinku played unbelievable shots and credit goes to him for the way he played and for the way he finished. Keep it simple, hit the right area consistently and that's what T20 is all about,β he added.Β
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