The modern era is all about the craze and madness of T20 cricket, as most of the players have taken their eyes off the longest in an attempt to be popular at the franchise level. Rinku Singh, the new sensation of Indian cricket in the recent time has made his name in the 20-over format for both the national side and in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Aligarh-born has blasted 2610 runs in 116 T20 innings, at an average of 33.89 and a strike rate of nearly 150, with the help of 15 half-centuries. Rinku Singh, in a very short span of his national career, has smashed 418 runs in 17 innings, at an average of around 60 and a strike rate of over 170.
In such cases, most of the players want to focus on a respective format in the future, something which isn’t the case with Rinku, who wants to be part of the Test team for the Blue Brigade in the future.
‘Test cricket in big cricket”- Rinku Singh
The exclusion of the Uttar Pradesh-born from the top 60 players of the first-class format for the upcoming season of the Duleep Trophy 2024, which is set to start on September 05, was quite shocking as he carries a very decent form in the format.
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Rinku Singh has featured in 47 FC games for Uttar Pradesh, where he has collected 3173 runs at an average of 54.70 and a strike rate of over 70, celebrating 20 half-centuries and seven centuries with the best score of an unbeaten 163-run knock.
The youngster doesn’t want to keep him among the four walls of T20 cricket, as he expressed playing for the national side across the formats. He touched on his excitement about playing the longest format of the game for India in the future.
“I want to play all three formats of the game. I like playing Test cricket a lot. My batting average in red-ball cricket is 55. Mujhe Bahut pasand hai laal ball khelna. Bahut maja ata hai mujhe khelne mein. Test cricket is very big cricket. White-ball to sab khelte hai magar Test khelna bahut badi baat hai aaj ke time mein. Toh vo mai khelna chahunga.” The left-hander batter expressed to News 24.
It was quite surprising to see him getting eliminated from the Duleep Trophy, which suggests that perhaps India hasn’t been looking at the batter for the red-ball form at the moment.
Rinku Singh, despite being denied a place in the 2024 T20 World Cup squad for the Blue Brigade, has been optimistic that he will play the next World Cup for India in the upcoming event.
“Every year dream about playing for the country in the World Cup, and it’s my dream as well. I had done well for India, but team selection is not in my hands.” The 26-year-old narrated.
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“Maybe they (selectors) haven’t seen me bowling at that time. Otherwise, it would have been a different scenario.” Rinku Singh said. “It was the selector’s call due to team combination, but no problem, I will play in the World Cup next time, I will work harder.”
It will be interesting to see if Rinku Singh gets an opportunity for the tournament in the second round once the senior men of the Indian side get excluded for their two-match Test series against Bangladesh. Otherwise, he will be in action again for the blue brigade for the upcoming T20I series.