Rinku Singh’s remarkable five-year journey of heartbreak, toil and rejection in the IPL finally found fruition at the Wankhede on Monday night. The Kolkata Knight Riders ice cool demeanour saw them chase down 153 against Rajasthan Royals to snap their five-match losing streak.
The Aligarh batsman’s domestic success story with Uttar Pradesh prompted Kings XI Punjab to pick him in 2017 but he never got a chance. He was bought by the
Knight Riders in 2018 for Rs 80 lakh and remained with them till 2021 before being ruled out because of a knee injury. But his work ethics and camaraderie again influenced the Knights management to bid for him at the mega auction this year.
The lefthander showed off his batting prowess on Monday by contributing 42 off just 23 balls during an unbroken 66-run stand with Nitish Rana which kept alive Knight Riders’ flickering hopes of making the playoffs.
“His is an amazing story. He’s been around the franchise now for a long period of time. Before the first game that he played (versus Gujarat Titans), I was lucky enough to spend a little bit of time with him. He knew that for his own self-worth and his own career he needed to make a statement in this competition. He was able to do it in the first game,” KKR head coach Brendon McCullum said.
“He’s such a great team man, a wonderful human being and the real vibe and culture of the group is set by Rinku. Some players just deserve to have things go their way and Rinku is one of them,” he added.
Born in a lower-middle class family, Rinku had to endure daily struggle and very nearly gave up the sport to repay a family debt of Rs 5 lakh in 2015.
His father Khanchandra delivered LPG cylinders while one his of five brothers worked as an auto rickshaw driver. He took to cricket at an early age and never showed any interest in academics. By his own admission, he was a “ninth fail”.
Rinku, 24, tried to repay the debt from his modest earnings as an U-19 Uttar Pradesh cricketer. Finding the going tough, he even contemplated taking up the job of a domestic help. But ultimately he decided to continue with cricket. In his maiden first-class season in 2016-17, he made 692 runs at an average of 49.43.
The 2018-19 season offered him a fresh lease of life. He piled up 953 runs in 13 innings at an average of 105.88. More importantly, he rescued Uttar Pradesh from trouble in most innings before they lost to Saurashtra in the quarter finals.
In 2019, he also had to go through a three-month suspension by the BCCI for playing in an unrecognised T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi. As a result, he was also dropped from the India A squad. But nothing could stop him from performing.
“He has always revelled in adversity. So his helping KKR to victory against the Royals didn’t come as a surprise to me. He loves challenges and is mentally very strong. You can always see the fire in him to excel and shatter obstacles. He has been like that from a young age,” former India cricketer and current Uttar Pradesh coach Gyanendra Pandey told The Telegraph.
His nimble footwork against the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal evoked awe on Monday. With 31 needed off 18 balls, Rinku whacked back-to-back fours off Chahal to effectively seal the game.
“He has always batted like that. He is excellent at sweeping and his placing and timing are impeccable. This can’t be achieved overnight. He has always been hungry for runs and his game is made for limited overs cricket,” Pandey said.
“Once he gets into rhythm, he is unstoppable. Once set, he will never surrender his wicket,” Pandey added. Rinku couldn’t hide his glee on Monday. “I was waiting for a long time to get a
Player of the Match. It came after five years but it came at last,” said the Knight Riders batsman. Perhaps this could be the beginning of a successful journey.
