Kolkata Knight Riders 207 for 7 (Venkatesh 83, Rinku 48*, Rana 45, Rashid 3-37, Joseph 2-28) beat Gujarat Titans 204 for 4 (Vijay 63*, Sai Sudharsan 53, Narine 3-33) by three wickets

This is what they mean when they say truth is stranger than fiction.

Knight Riders' opening woes

Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana threaten to take the game away

Knight Riders finished the powerplay on 43 for 2. The field restrictions were lifted, but Iyer and Rana didn't have a problem in sending the ball to the boundary, or over it. Iyer hit Dayal for a four and six in the seventh over. In the next, Rana smashed Joseph for two sixes.

Rashid's first two overs went for 23. Sandwiched between them was a 17-run Dayal over. With 77 needed from seven overs, Knight Riders were well and truly alive, before Joseph's double-strike to remove both set batters tilted the game towards Titans.

Rinku trumps Rashid's hat-trick

Rashid seemed to have sealed the game. Except Rinku had other ideas. With 28 needed from five balls, Dayal lost control. The next three balls were full tosses, and Rinku dispatched them over long-off, over deep-backward square leg, and again over long-off.

After a chat with Rashid and David Miller, Dayal bowled a back-of the-hand slower one into the pitch only for Rinku to clear long-on. With four needed from the last ball, another meeting was called, with Shubman Gill too joining in this time. Dayal bowled the last one short and outside off and Rinku hit it over his head. Even before the ball had cleared the boundary, Rinku took off in celebration, running towards his team-mates, who had rushed on to the field to embrace him.

Shubman Gill gives Titans strong powerplay

That left Titans 38 for 1 after five overs. Varun Chakravarthy, though, bowled a touch too full and Gill caressed him for back-to-back fours through extra cover. Varun's over also included five wides, which helped Titans finish the powerplay at 54 for 1.

Sai Sudharsan's fifty keeps Titans afloat

Gill and Sai Sudharsan took Titans to 100 in the 12th over, but Narine didn't let Gill convert his start into a big score, having him miscue one to long-on for a 31-ball 39. Titans sent in Abhinav Manohar at No. 4 to provide some impetus. He hit Umesh for three successive fours before Suyash Sharma cut short his innings, breaching his defence with a googly.

Titans seemed to be eyeing 180, and Sai Sudharsan kept them on course for that. Apart from hitting a six each off Narine and Varun, he also ran four twos and a three, and brought up his fifty in 34 balls. It was his second successive fifty, having scored an unbeaten 62 off 48 balls against Capitals. But, looking for quick runs, he holed out to long-off off Narine in the 18th over.

Vijay Shankar has a party

Titans were 159 for 4 after 18 overs. Vijay Shankar had his eye in by then and had moved to 22 off 13. Then he brought out his biggest hit, smashing two fours and two sixes off Lockie Ferguson before launching three successive sixes off Shardul Thakur. The last two overs of Titans' innings produced 45 runs; 41 of those came from Vijay's bat. In all, Vijay scored 63 not out off 24 balls, hitting four fours and five sixes along the way, to haul Titans past 200. It was not enough on the night.