Kolkata Knight Riders batter Rinku Singh left every cricket fan spellbound with his powerful knocks in IPL 2023. His years of hard work paid off when he earned his maiden India call-up for the Asian Games, which will be held in China in September. Life changed for Rinku Singh after he won his franchise an IPL match against Gujarat Titans, hitting 5 consecutive sixes on the final 5 balls. Since that monumental feat, Rinku’s popularity has increase by several folds.
The 25-year-old batter has also been named in India’s squad, which will be squaring off against Ireland in a T20I series in August. Rinku called his inclusion in the national team a dream and also shared the details of his emotional journey. “Sapne jaisa hi hai (This is like a dream).
I don’t want to wake up anytime soon. It’s an amazing feeling, not easy for me to describe in words. I have reached this level from absolutely nothing. I am an emotional person, and every time I talk to my parents, we end up crying,” Rinku was quoted. “I have been with the KKR for six years. I got my chances initially but failed to make those count. I have learned a lot during my early years with the team. I worked hard on my batting with Abhishek Nayar sir at the KKR academy in Mumbai. All that hard work is paying off,” said Rinku. “No other franchise would have kept me after failing regularly, but the KKR team management and Abhishek sir saw something in me that even I couldn’t. I would bat five to six hours every day in the nets and learnt new shots. I think in those three years, I became an all-round batsman. I did well in the IPL, got recognition, and now am rewarded with an India call-up,” he added. Talking about the series against Ireland, Team India will be led by the star pacer Jasprit Bumrah, who will be making a comeback into the Indian cricket team after a long injury hiatus. The series will kick-start from August 18. Team India (Senior Men) squad for T20I series against Ireland: Jasprit Bumrah (C), Ruturaj Gaikwad (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Sanju Samson (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan.
