Rinku Singh is the name on all tongues, especially after his heroic knock for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against the Gujarat Titans (GT) on Sunday in their recent most IPL 2023 encounter. He played an astonishing knock of 48* in just 21 balls with 6 sixes and one four to take his team home.
GT had batted first and posted 204/4 in 20 overs thanks to Sai Sudharsan’s brilliant half-century and Vijay Shankar’s 63* filled with lusty blows. In response, the Kolkata Knight Riders found themselves in a bit of trouble when Venkatesh Iyer with 83 in 40 balls, and captain Nitish Rana with 45 stabilized the innings.
But then GT’s stand-in captain Rashid Khan showed his class and picked a hat trick removing the dangerous Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, and Shardul Thakur to peg back the progress KKR had made.
But then entered Rinku Singh, who had not done much in his first 14 balls, when 48 runs were needed in the last 18 balls. He first hit a six and a four off the last two balls of the 19th over bowled by Josh Little.
You Will Gain Nothing By Playing Cricket: Rinku Singh’s Father Recalls His Words To Him
He got the strike in the last over with five balls in hand and 28 runs needed, bowled by Yash Dayal. But Rinku Singh had something other in his mind and proceeded to hit five sixes in the next six balls to make 30 runs by himself and handing KKR an astonishing win by 3 wickets and was rightly judged the Player of the Match.
Reacting to his amazing knock, Rinku Singh’s father Khanchand said that his son did everything himself, despite his discouragement.
“I didn’t prepare him he did it all by himself. I didn’t buy him a bat or anything else. After some time he played in the stadium and scored runs for his team. At that time I used to say to him that he should focus on his studies, you will gain nothing by playing cricket. He didn’t focus on his studies at all. He scored runs in the tournament and everybody said that your kid plays well after that I told him that if you want to play cricket you can play cricket,” Khanchand said to ANI.
The sheer quality that Rinku displayed last night against Gujarat Titans showcased his potential as a batter and as a finisher. His father has bigger plans for the upcoming years.
“I am very happy with the way he won the match for KKR yesterday. In the future I want him to play cricket for the Indian cricket team,” Khanchand said.
Rinku Singh will be back in action for KKR in IPL 2023 against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday at Eden Gardens.