IPL 2023: 'One of greatest shots I have ever seen' - Kevin Pietersen on Ajinkya Rahane's innovative six

IPL 2023: Kevin Pietersen has doffed his hat to Ajinkya Rahane's uncharacteristic shot against KKR on Sunday. In the 18th over of CSK's batting innings, Rahane shuffled across and opened the face of the bat in a manner just apt enough to scoop the low full toss outside off stump over short third man.

The shot from Rahane, who is generally known for playing traditional and classy shots which involves touch and timing, took everyone including Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen by surprise. The stunning hit also put CSK just one run short of the 200 runs mark with two overs remaining.

“How good is that? It goes straight into the Kolkata Knight Riders dug out,” said Shastri who was on-air.

“I'm not sure how!” said fellow commentator Simon Doull when the replay of the shot was played on loop.

Former England captain Pietersen also came up with a tweet and declared Rahane's shot as "one of the greatest" he has seen.

"Jinx Rahane has just played one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen. Keep entertaining brother!," he tweeted. Rahane scored brisk 71 unbeaten runs off just 29 balls in the match. The innings propelled CSK to 235/4 - the highest total in IPL 2023 season and the highest ever by a team at Eden Gardens.

Rahane, who was part of KKR in the IPL 2022, has now scored 209 runs from five IPL matches at an average of 52.25 and a strike rate of 199.04. Rahane's strike rate is highest in IPL 2023 among batters with more than 100 runs.

Later in the match, CSK defended the target by 49 runs to go on top of the ten-team IPL 2023 points table. The four-time champions have now won five out of their seven games.