When Rinku Singh walked out to bat at No.8, yes, you read that right, against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders needed 62 runs off 28 balls. Considering the conditions and Rinku and his batting partner Andre Russell’s track record, it was very much gettable. But the question is, why would you wait till the situation reached this extreme level before sending someone like Rinku into bat?
The pressure of hitting every alternate ball for a boundary brings with it the chance of losing wickets and that’s exactly what happened to Russell. The West Indies big-hitter hit a six in the 16th over but was holed out in the 17th over, leaving too much to do for Rinku alone.
The left-hander, however, put in a gallant effort. Rinku ended the 17th over with a boundary through the off-side. Hit another one off leg-spinner Digvesh Rathi in the 18th over. His big hitting was on full display in the 19th over, bowled Avesh Khan. The left-hander hit Avesh for a six and two fours but in between, there were three dot balls as Rinku decided to farm strike.
When KKR needed 28 off in the last over, Harshit Rana got a four off Ravi Bishnoi’s first ball but missed the next. Rinku had an impossible task of getting 19 off 3 balls when Harshit gave him the strike. The left-hander hit two fours and a six to remain unbeaten on 38 off 15 balls as KKR came very close to pulling off a big run chase. They lost the match by four runs.
If the KKR think tank had sent Rinku earlier instead of maintaining the right and left-hand combination, the story could well have been different for the defending champions. This has been the scene for Rinku since the last season. The man from UP, who was in line for a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad last year, lost out as he did not get much time in the middle in the IPL. KKR used him as a finisher, and Rinku got very few balls to bat as their top order was firing.
Even this year, the three-time champions have been quite happy to bat Angrish Raghuvanshi ahead of Rinku. The KKR fans did not like the way Rinku was being treated.