On the back of his stunning exploits in the IPL 2023 season, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Rinku Singh recently received an India call-up for the upcoming Asian games.

Rinku impressed one and all with his performances in IPL 16. In 14 innings, the southpaw amassed 474 runs at a brilliant average and strike rate of 59.25 and 149.52 respectively. More than the impressive numbers, he captured everyone’s imagination by finishing games for KKR from difficult situations.

Speaking to bcci.tv, Rinku Singh shared his first reaction on earning maiden India call-up and also revealed how elated everyone was at his home when they heard the news.

“Everyone at home wanted me to play for India and when I got selected everyone danced. Everyone was happy,” Rinku said.

The highlight of Rinku Singh’s performance in the IPL 2023 season was his five successive sixes off Yash Dayal to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat for KKR against Gujarat Titans.

Rinku explained how life changed for him after he smashed five sixes in an over.

“After those five sixes life changed a lot. People knew me at the time but I was not that popular after that lot of people came to know about me,” he said.

“It was a special innings since that knock everyone started to call me lord,” the left-hander added.

The Indian men’s team in the Asian Games will be captained by Ruturaj Gaikwad. Besides Rinku Singh, the squad also includes young talents such as Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prabhsimran Singh and Tilak Varma among others. The likes of Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda and Sai Sudharsan are standbys.

Indian men’s squad for Asian Games:

Ruturaj Gaikwad (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul Tripathi, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Shivam Mavi, Shivam Dube, Prabhsimran Singh (wk)

Standby list of players: Yash Thakur, Sai Kishore, Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Hooda, Sai Sudharsan.