Specialist fielder to hitman, the incredible rise of Rinku
KOLKATA: May 30, 2019, BCCI sent an email that was drowned in the din of a World Cup happening halfway across the world. Rinku Singh had been suspended for three months for playing in an unauthorised T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi. Making a further example out of him, BCCI also withdrew Singh from the India A squad set to play a four-day game against Sri Lanka A in Hubli the next day. On Wednesday, that same man was one ball away from keeping KKR in contention for the IPL playoffs.
Hope is a fickle ally in competitive sport—just a bit of it rarely doubles as a survival kit. You need to be an incurable optimist even when you are clutching at straws trying to stay relevant. You need to keep dreaming. Unless hope was welling inside Singh, he would never have overcome the rejections that would always outnumber the dreamcome-true moments. And in Singh’s case there have been just two so far—a 23-ball 42* against RR and a 15-ball 40 that shoehorned an equation of 69 from 26 balls to three off two; one of them fashioning a win. To many, this doesn’t even qualify as the beginning to a fairytale.
Singh is the archetypal journeyman: a solid domestic career spruced up by India A selections and fewer IPL call-ups. In four seasons at KKR, Singh has featured in four games (2018), five (2019), one (2020), and seven in 2022. Till KKR picked him for what was their eighth match this season, Singh was someone you were used to seeing taking a tumble at the boundary rope and chancing his rocket arm but nearly not good enough with the bat. Should players like him fail, a second chance doesn’t come easily.
So, before his third match, Singh drew “50” on his palm with a heart below it. That night, he scored 42*. On Wednesday, Singh could have easily been Man of the Match with a 15-ball 40 in a game Quinton de Kock had scored 140*.
What prompted Singh to play an unsanctioned league in Abu Dhabi isn’t known but money would be an educated guess. Cricketers like Singh bank on match fees and contracts, not sponsorships. To get a contract, you need to perform. To perform, you need to play. But life dealt Singh a curveball in the form of a knee injury during the Vijay Hazare Trophy last year. “The moment I fell, I thought of the IPL,” Singh told kkr.in in a video. “They told me I needed an operation and would require seven months to recover. I wasn’t happy staying away from cricket for so long.
“My father didn’t eat for 2-3 days,” said Singh. “I told him it’s just an injury, a part of cricket. I’m the sole breadwinner of my family and such things are bound to be worrisome.”
KKR paid for his surgery and rehab as Singh watched his team reach the final. It’s bittersweet, watching your team play the IPL final thinking you could have been part of it all. But Singh was told KKR would bid for him again. “(Nitish) Rana ji told me KKR would bid for me. That assured me I would play for them again. KKR has moulded my life. Almost all of my problems went away after KKR picked me for ₹80 lakh.”
The urge to cement his place, get a better contract, but most importantly make his team win, has kept Singh going hard at every ball. That six over backward square-leg off Avesh Khan, the flat-batted six over long-on off Jason Holder, that front-foot pull straight six over Marcus Stoinis’s head, all screamed of a chance that came too late, a career that could have easily gone sideways. But hopefully, you will see more of Rinku Singh after this. For he is more than just a specialist fielder.