With teams gearing up for the marquee T20I World Cup 2024 in June in the West Indies and The United States of America, Team India with the blend of youngsters like Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal etc. And the experience of likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the ranks , The Rahul Dravid led Indian team management has seemed to have found an able finisher in the form of Rinku Singh leading to the marquee event.
In the third T20I vs Afghanistan, Rinku Singh proved to be able partner to rampaging Rohit Sharma who scored a brilliant 121 runs to gather all the news around him . Rinku Singh showed that he can also take the team out of the trouble by playing a belligerent knock and was in a beast mode
Rinku Singh the new finisher for India
Rinku Singh, who plays for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL rose to fame for his pyrotechnics with the bat batting at No 5 or 6 in 2023 IPL season. Post his induction in the Indian National team , match by match Rinku Singh has proved his worth as an able lower middle order batter India requires as a finisher since MS Dhoni left the Indian scenes.
The best part of Rinku Singh’s game is that he assesses the game to perfection and channelizes his shots playing to the situation which is his biggest gain as a player who is fast improving in all the aspects of the game. His staggering average of 58.47 in first class matches just shows his maturity in assessing the right play for right situation.
Coming into limelight in IPL 2023 where he smashed Gujarat Titan bowler Yash Dayal 5 sixes to garner 30 runs in the final over to win the match for his team and then going onto to score 474 runs in the staggering season when inducted into Indian T20I side in the Ireland series has shown immense growth with every match having got to his first T20I half century vs South Africa in December 2023 in South Africa before this innings of 69 runs in the match versus Afghanistan.
Rinku Singh in the process of bailing out India from the precarious score of 22 for 4 when he came into bat only in the fourth overs of the innings with only Washington Sundar to follow racked up his highest T20I score of 69 runs in just 39 balls inclusive of 2 fours and 6 sixes but more importantly stitched a match winning 190 runs record partnership with captain Rohit Sharma to take India to 212 for 4 at end of their 20 overs.
An able batter Rinku Singh also adds to his credit being a gun fielder taking 2 catches in the 2nd super over helping India to win the exciting T20I match in the history of the game. Rinku Singh after the match was elated by his performance but also showed readiness to learn from the experience batting alongside Rohit Sharma in order to improve even more further.
Rinku Singh heaps praise on Rohit Sharma
Team India’s new batting sensation Rinku Singh recently expressed his gratitude to bat with captain Rohit Sharma. The reaction came after the third and final T20I against Afghanistan at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday (January 17). Rinku called it a learning curve to spend quality time with Rohit at the crease and relished his explosive shots from the other end. The left-handed batter was elated as India beat Afghanistan after the second super over in a dramatic clash.
Following the clash, Rinku shared pictures with Sharma and captioned the Instagram post:
“Every moment in the middle with @rohitsharma45 bhaiya is a masterclass in learning, fun and entertainment. Series win vibes.”
For the unversed, Rinku Singh walked in the middle with India reeling at 22/4 before sharing an unbeaten 190-run partnership with Sharma for the fifth wicket.
The 26-year-old smashed 69 runs off 39 balls at a strike rate of 176.92, including six maximums and two boundaries. He hit three consecutive sixes off the 20th over bowled by Karim Janat to help India put up 212/4 in their allotted 20 overs.