"When Rinku Singh Is There...": Krunal Pandya, Nitish Rana Sum Up KKR Star's Impact In IPL 2023

Lucknow Super Giants captain Krunal Pandya on Saturday lauded his side's fighting spirit in their thrilling one-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders that took them to the IPL play-offs. LSG's regular skipper KL Rahul was ruled out of the tournament earlier this month after injuring his right thigh in a match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Krunal was handed the captaincy and he did an impressive job, leading the side into the play-offs.

"First reaction is satisfaction. We never gave up, we were put under lot of pressure but credit to the boys," he said at the post-match presentation.

"At one stage, they were 61/1 but I've seen it before that at this level 2-3 tight overs and we're in the game. And there was some grip for the spinners as well." Krunal was in awe of KKR left-handed batter Rinku Singh's big-hitting abilities.

"Rinku has been special this year, every game when he's there you can't take it easy," he said. "Today he showed it again, but it is a high pressure situation while bowling death overs to execute our plans."

A disappointing KKR skipper Nitish Rana hopes to come back stronger next season after learning lessons from a disappointing outing this year. "The result wasn't in our favour, but there are a lot of positives from the season. Hopefully we come back as a better team," he said.

"You have to win back-to-back, and I feel bad since we had the ability finish games off." Nitish too was full of praise about Rinku's performance.

"Looks like I have spoken Rinku all 14 times that I have held the mic after a match! I really don't have words to define him. If he can bat that way in that situation, then he can do anything," he said.