The last bleary memory of Rinku Singh in the India colours was bowling innocuous off-breaks on a sweltering Colombo night. He bowled the penultimate over on a turner, bagged a brace and set the match for an unseemly climax where Suryakumar Yadav nabbed another pair of wickets to take the match to the Super Over.
It was an ironic moment, when India’s most destructive T20 hand and his apprentice duetting a heist with the ball. The overs and wickets were soon forgotten. You need to dig up the scorecard and fish out the footage to know whether Rinku bowled off-break, leg-break or military medium.
Or if Rinku bowled at all. The two-wicket burst, though, was his only memorable moment of the tour. He mustered just two runs in as many outings. In the first outing, he came out to bat at No 7 in the last over, tried big shots as the situation demanded and lasted only two balls. He was a passenger in the second game and when he finally got an opportunity to bat up the order, he found himself stung on a vicious turner. The year 2024 has been unkind to him.
India’s Rinku Singh celebrates his half century during the third T20 cricket match between India and Afghanistan, at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, in Bengaluru. (PTI)
Until the turn of the year, he was the leading light among the new wave of stars, a heart-warming rags-to-riches story as well as a genuine all-format talent. He embodied all the virtues of the T20 age— fearless and nerveless, cool-headed and cold-eyed.
As he displayed in the early spring of his T20 career, he could orchestrate heists, launch assaults on bowlers on any surface or situation. He thrived in pressure situations, closed down matches and enhanced his reputation as a T20 finisher.
Rinku was the glint in the eye of spectators — he still enjoys fanfare, even as remote locales as Anantapur where the masses flocked to watch him in the Duleep Trophy. Rinku merrily engaged the fans, selfie-ing with them and signing autographs and shaking hands when he was fielding.
India’s batsman Rinku Singh watches his shot during the second T20 cricket match between South Africa and India, at St. George’s Park in Gqeberha, South Africa, Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (AP)
He hardly wore the expression of someone bothered about the misfortunes of his life, or the unfavourable circumstances that dragged him to the fringes. He entered IPL 2024 with his place firmly secure in the Indian eleven. Then, for much of the league, he was an onlooker in Kolkata Knight Riders canter to the final.
In the 16 games he played, he batted just 11 times, either coming out to wrap up a comfortable chase or put on the afterburners at the death overs. In those eleven instances, he batted at No 6 or beneath on seven instances. So inflammable was KKR’s batting ammo that he was not required in the knockouts.
Suddenly, in the fickle T20 galaxy, he was a forgotten man. In the balance juggle of the T20 World Cup squad, his destructiveness was compromised for the utility of Shivam Dube. The latter sparkled in fits and flashes, but Rinku did not wallow in grief.
Words of encouragement from Rohit Sharma lifted his morale. “Rohit bhaiya told me to just keep working hard. There is the World Cup again after two years. There is no need to worry more. Your time will come,” he said.
India’s Rinku Singh plays a shot during the fourth T20 cricket match between Australia and India in Raipur. (AP)
India’s chief selector Ajit Agarkar would say that overlooking him was the toughest decision he had ever taken.
He is made of sterner stuff to overcome snubs, as he had all through his life. “I was a little worried in the beginning. Okay whatever happened. Whatever happens, happens only for good,” he told Dainik Jagran.
His feet remain firmly on the ground that when someone asked him about his modest-by-IPL-standards pay, he replied: “I think Rs 50-55 lakhs is still a huge amount.” He staunchly believes in destiny and inked another tattoo on his forearms that read ‘God’s Plans’. Before every season, he would garland the stumps and offer his prayers.
Destiny has resumed smiling at him. Now that Rohit and Virat Kohli have retired, KL Rahul fading out of the canvas, Rinku could get a steady clip of opportunities. The Bangladesh T20 series, which begins from Saturday in Gwalior, is another avenue to fly back into public consciousness.
Rinku Singh of Kolkata Knight Riders during the final of the Indian Premier League season 17 (IPL 2024) between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad held at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on the 26th May 2024. (Sportzpics)
For he is too gifted a talent to languish without adequate opportunities. He is a left-hander, comfortable against spin and pace. He doesn’t need the feeler balls to shower boundaries. He is the plug-and-play genus that comes programmed with big shots. He exudes a contagious energy on the field, is a mood-lifter in the dressing room.
There are deeper layers to his game too. Though labelled as a lower-order finish, he could weather the storm in crisis, as he showed with ample credibility against South Africa in his 39-ball 68 not out in Gqeberha, a T20 tour de force albeit in a losing cause. He could don the roles of a powerplay intimidator, middle-over marauder or a late-over hangman. “I just bat according to the situations, and I have the game to adapt to different circumstances,” he once said.
But it is important that he keeps scoring impactful runs, knocks that the fair-weather T20 audience remembers, scores that make him an undroppable in the playing eleven. Because nobody would remember the innocuous off-breaks.
