Uttar Pradesh batter Rinku Singh has said that his life has changed for the better, and he wants his father to now retire and relax.
Much was said when Rinku Singh was not named for the T20I series against West Indies, but his name was included in the Indian side for the Asian Games and the upcoming Ireland T20I tour. This has been a reward for his consistent performances in the IPL for the past 2-3 years and in domestic cricket as well.
"Humara kaam sirf run banana hai. Match milega toh accha karenge. Main zyada sochta nahin hoon. Present mein jeeta hoon. Uparwala baas dekhle. Apne haath mein toh sirf mehnaat hai. Mehnat karte rahenge, dekhte hai kya hota hai (My job is to score runs. If I get an opportunity, I will try to do well. I don't overthink. I like to live in the present. I Hope Almighty keeps blessing me. Working hard is in my hands and I will do that and see what happens)," Rinku told PTI.
"Obviously my parents, brothers, my childhood coach (Masood Amini), everyone is happy. It was a collective dream," said Rinku.
His brothers and father Khanchand used to deliver LPG cylinders to various houses and hotels during his teenage years. But Rinku has managed to build a house in which all of them now live comfortably thanks to his earnings from domestic cricket and the IPL.
"I told Papa that you can relax now. But he is still hawking cylinders. He still loves that job. At one level, I understand his part also. If he starts relaxing at home, he will get bored instantly. If someone has worked all his life, it is difficult to tell him to stop unless he wants," said Rinku.
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Not the one to forget his roots, Rinku Singh has also nourished an urge inside of him to give back something to society as the game has already given him name and fame. He is building a small hostel adjacent to the ground in Aligarh where he grew up learning the game.
"I am getting a hostel constructed and the cricket ground is adjacent to it, so it would become easy for the kids. Someone, who is like an elder brother told me that let's plan something for these kids. Let's construct a hostel. He financed half and I decided to pay the other half," Rinku said.
Coming to cricketing matters, Rinku knows that life has changed for the better but he doesn't want to "hype up" things.
"Life has changed a lot as people now recognize it. I never believe in hyping things up as you never know when confidence turns into over-confidence. I want to keep things normal and play normal cricket," said the southpaw.
He credited his KKR skipper Nitish Rana and coach Abhishek Nayar for his success.
"Nitish bhaiyya has supported me a lot. Abhishek sir has trained me at the KKR Academy as per the needs of the T20 game. Before going to Ireland, I will be training for a few days at Noida and then under Abhishek sir at the KKR Academy in Ireland -- normal training before my first overseas tour," Rinku said.
(PTI inputs)
