Rinku Singh was the star of Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) 3-wicket win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL 2023 on Sunday, April 9. He made a scintillating 48* in 21 balls, hitting 6 sixes and one four in his knock at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Gujarat Titans (GT) had batted first after their stand-in captain Rashid Khan won the toss. Thanks to half-centuries from Sai Sudharsan (53) and Vijay Shankar (63), the defending champions posted 204/4 in 20 overs.
In response, KKR found themselves in some trouble, before Venkatesh Iyer smashed 83 in 40 balls with 8 fours and 5 sixes, with support from Nitish Rana. However, after these two got out, Rashid Khan weaved his magic and picked a hat-trick consisting of wickets of Andre Russell, Sunil Narine and Shardul Thakur.
At 155/7 in 17th over, there was little hope for KKR to win this match as the equation then became 48 runs in 18 balls.
But Rinku Singh held his nerve and hammered 6 sixes and one four in the last seven balls he faced, including five consecutive sixes against Yash Dayal in the final over, when 29 runs were needed and took his team to victory.
During an exclusive interview with News18 India’s Shivani Gupta, Rinku revealed his mindset before slamming the five sixes that made him a household name. He also talked about being compared to Ravi Shastri, and Javed Miandad by KKR coach Chandrakant Pandit.
“Feel good, it was my life’s best innings, the whole country has now heard of me. I have played such innings before, so I was confident, and I’m confident about the number I play at. It is a big deal for me to be compared with the big players like (Ravi) Shastri and (Javed) Miandad,” Rinku said.
Rinku also talked about the celebrations after he took KKR to an unbelievable win and he revealed the words of coach Pandit while getting a hug amidst the outpour of emotions.
“I loved Nitish bhaiya’s reaction the best. He was running hard at me, I was worried we might hit each other. Ut that was great. Pandit ji hugged me and almost cried, he said ‘you saved our respect (izzat rakh li)," revealed Rinku.
Rinku hopes that he can continue his good run of form with the bat and his ultimate goal is to play for India.
“I am hopeful of a breakthrough to play for India as I am batting well. I don’t think about it much and just focus on my batting. I have never won the final of the IPL, I’m hoping KKR does it this time," Singh added.
He hails from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh and comes from a lower middle-class family. He said that he played cricket against the wishes of his father and only got support from his mother.
“My mom once told me that your father isn’t supporting you, so why don’t you get a job. I thought of taking a job to support my family at a coaching center near us. I thought I’ll get a good job and went wearing a shirt and pant. But I was offered a sweeping job. They said you come and sweep in the morning before anyone comes, no one will get to know you do this. I didn’t like that and I told myself I’ll focus on cricket instead and I left from there. I worked hard and my hard work has paid off," said Rinku.
KKR will next face SRH at home in Eden Gardens on April 14.
(News18 India inputs)
