Former Indian Allrounder Irfan Pathan feels Rinku Singh will have a good series against South Africa which is starting today. The Ex Indian player has said that Rinku Singh loves playing fast bowlers and will enjoy playing on the bouncy pitches of South Africa.
India will be playing 3t20is, 3 ODIs and 2 Tests against the hosts South Africa. Rinku Singh, who performed well in the T20Is is also picked for the ODIs for this series and will be looking to make an impact in the 50 over format too.
Rinku Singh is extremely impressive- Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan talking on Star sports in the show Gameplan, which is a preview before the game said,
“I think he will enjoy the bounce and pace of the ball because he is the kind of cricketer who likes to face fast bowling. I really think he is a guy who is ready. Especially being a left-hander and especially being a free-flowing player will help,” said Irfan Pathan.
The former Indian cricketer feels the UP batter’s domestic experience will be handy and also playing at the Eden Gardens for KKR has a been a turning point. He explained,
“He is extremely impressive. When a guy has done the hard yards in domestic cricket and waited for his chance to come good in the IPL, that means he has got a lot of experience. He knows how to take those chances, that will come his way, with both hands,” he added.
Irfan added that the stage Rinku comes into bat will give him an advantage as the bowlers are usually under pressure at that stage of the innings.
Rinku Singh has put in a lot of effort. It wasn’t that he got his place in the IPL as soon as he came in- Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan stressed on the fact that one should not look over his domestic stats and his excellence at the international stage is due to his domestic cricket experience where he has won many games for his state Uttar Pradesh. He said,
“We are seeing him getting results lately, he is playing for the Indian team and finished a very good game for the Indian team recently, and his name has been doing the rounds for the last little while, but don’t forget that he has been playing first-class cricket and List A cricket for many years,” said Irfan Pathan.
The former Allrounder has stated that playing for Kolkata Knights Riders (KKR) he has put in efforts and Abhishek Nayar also played a huge role in his transformation into the batter he is now.
“He has put in a lot of effort. It wasn’t that he got his place in the IPL as soon as he came in. He used to play just as a fielder and then the team liked him. They backed him and now they are getting the results,” he added.
KKR backed Rinku after having several poor seasons and he repaid their faith by smashing 471 runs for KKR in IPL 2023 at an impressive average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52 in 14 innings. His smashing performances has earned him the Indian team call and he used his opportunity to perfection since then scoring 180 runs at an average of 60.00 and a strike rate of 187.50 in six innings.
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