The Indian Premiere League has scripted many success stories, transforming the lives of budding cricketers. The league gave the stage to many modern-day cricket stars including Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant when they were little-known names.
One such find of this IPL season has been Kolkata Knight Riders’ Rinku Singh.
On Father’s Day, Kolkata Knight Riders posted a video featuring Rinku’s father in which he spoke on how the young cricketer has changed the life of the family. He adds that he is proud of his son’s achievements. Rinku Singh comes from a small household in Aligarh and has seen hardships, unlike many others. His father was a hawker and money was always an issue in the house
The KKR batter, in an interview with NDTV, revealed that his family couldn’t support him due to the financial situation. His father even asked him to work alongside so that there could be some extra income.
He even had to leave cricket and work with his brother as a sweeper at a coaching centre. Not giving up on his dream, Rinku convinced his mother to let him continue playing cricket.
The Aligarh batter got his first IPL break in 2018 from the Kolkata Knight Riders when they bought him for 80 lakhs. Although Rinku was selected in 2018, he started getting regular opportunities as a finisher in the later stages of the 2022 season.
He impressed everyone by scoring 174 runs in 7 matches at a strike rate of 148.72. But it was all just a glimpse of a storm that arrived in the 2023 season of the IPL.
The KKR batter took the baton of the premiere finisher of the franchise from the very capable hands of Andre Russell, who is counted among the best finishers in T20.
Rinku took the world by storm smashing 5 consecutive sixes off Yash Dayal in the final over of the match against the defending champions Gujarat Titans. This kicked off a breakout season for him. Rinku went on to score 474 runs in 14 matches with an astonishing average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.5, which included 31 sixes and 29 fours in the process.
Following the successful IPL season, the KKR star is now on the verge of fulfilling his dream of playing for India. With the West Indies tour in the vicinity and the Indian team in need of a finisher, Rinku Singh could be picked as an option.