Gavaskar said India will benefit a lot if Rinku achieves two-thirds of what Yuvraj did for India.
Rinku Singh, who hails from Aligarh, broke into the Indian team in 2023 after a stellar outing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2023. His five sixes in five balls against Gujarat Titans to win KKR a match out of nowhere will remain a highlight moment in the IPL forever.
Such has been the sublime form of Rinku Singh, that he is firmly in BCCI’s plan for India’s T20 World Cup 2024 squad and now legendary India batter Sunil Gavaskar had absolute praise for India's new T20 sensation.
Having made his debut in the Ireland series in August, Rinku, who plays the role of a finisher in T20 cricket, scored 180 runs in 86 balls across six innings. 105 of those runs came in the recently concluded series against Australia at home, where he scored at a strike rate of 175, with 13 boundaries and four sixes.
Sunil Gavaskar admitted that Rinku might not be one of those exceptionally gifted cricketers, but it has been his belief and consistency that made him crack into the Indian team.
"Talent - it's not given to everybody. You can love the game. You can play all day, but sometimes you know you might not quite have the talent, he has the belief that he could do it, and that's what he's done over the last 2-3 years. Again here in the IPL, he was in and out of a lot of teams when he finally got the opportunity and the way he grabbed it (was amazing)," Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
Gavaskar also shared his thoughts on Rinku Singh being compared to legendary Yuvraj Singh for his big-hitting prowess. He said that even if the youngster can emulate a fraction of what the two-time World Cup winner achieved, it would be wonderful for Indian cricket.
“And now he's part of an India team. And now there's so much, so many high expectations of them. They are now expecting him to be another Yuvraj Singh. Rinku Singh - Yuvraj Singh. So if you can do even a fraction of what Yuvraj did for Indian cricket, then he will have done wonderfully well," the former India captain said.
The first T20I between South Africa and India was washed out in Durban and the two teams will now clash in the second match on Tuesday in Port Elizabeth.