‘I have been waiting for the last five years to get a chance’: Rinku Singh after his match-winning knock against Rajasthan

Kolkata played against Rajasthan in the 47^th match of the Indian T20 League 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The match turned out to be a low-scoring thriller in which Kolkata emerged victorious by 7 wickets.

Rajasthan batted first in the match and scored 152 runs from 20 overs. Kolkata in pursuit of the moderate target started to fall weak as the Rajasthan bowlers picked up a few early wickets. But a steady knock from Nitish Rana (48 off 37) and a counter-attacking brand of cricket by Rinku Singh (42 off 23) ensured that Kolkata broke their five-match losing streak.

Rinku Singh played a daring knock and attacked the best bowlers of the Rajasthan bowling lineup. His aggressive innings changed the momentum of the game and released the pressure on his team. Notably, his performance earned him the Player of the Match award.

While speaking about his struggles to establish himself in the cash-rich tournament, Rinku spoke about how he battled with injury. He also pointed out that it was a long wait for him to get regular chances and make an impact in the tournament. Notably, he made his debut for the Men in Purple way back in 2018 but in the five years, he has just played 13 matches for the franchise.

“A lot of players have played Ranji from Aligarh, but I am the first to play in the Indian T20 League. This is a big league and there is a lot of pressure obviously. I have been waiting for the last five years to get a chance,”- Rinku said during the post-match presentation ceremony.

While speaking about his partnership with Nitish Rana and staying till the end to take his team home, Rinku said -“I worked very hard, came back from injury, and did well on the domestic circuit as well. When I was batting, Bhaiyya (Nitish Rana) and Baz (Brendon McCullum) told me to stay till the end and finish it.”