Abhishek Nayar, the assistant coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), has praised Rinku Singh by calling him a “level-headed cricketer” and a “ideal package” for any team regardless of format. According to Nayar, Rinku’s performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) is not surprising because he has experienced the rigours of domestic cricket.
Rinku was named Player of the Match for his 54 run knock against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Sunday, May 14 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. the 25-year-old shared 99 runs for the fourth wicket with skipper Nitish Rana (57* off 44).
Rinku Singh is having a fantastic season for KKR in the IPL 2023. He has scored 407 runs in 13 matches at an average of 50.88 and a strike rate of 143.31, with three half-centuries.
Nayar said at a post-match press conference:
“Rinku Singh has always been a great player of spin. If you go back and look at his first-class season, domestic cricket in general, Rinku Singh is one name that will come across as one of those three-four people who have been successful over the past two-three season.“
“He has always been someone who has done that for UP in domestic cricket in different situations. He knows how to play in these conditions; domestic cricket gives you one of the most challenging pitches. He has been through the grind, I am so happy to see him achieve success like that.”
“Rinku Singh is hard working” – Nayar
“I think it’s just the beginning and the tip of the iceberg in terms of what he is going to achieve going forward because he is a level-headed, hard-working who wants to evolve as a cricketer and he is the ideal package to have in any format in any team.”
Nayar Praised Rinku
Earlier this season, Rinku Singh crushed Gujarat Titans (GT) bowler Yash Dayal for five consecutive sixes in the last over for a thrilling victory.
Assistant Coach Nayar on Varun Chakravarthy’s performance
Aside from Rinku Singh, leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy has been a standout for KKR. The latter has taken 19 wickets in 13 matches, compared to six in 11 games previous season.
Nayar explained that a lot of hard work had gone on behind the scenes, which resulted in Chakravarthy’s fortune changing. He went on to say:
“After last season, we discussed quite a bit on what we thought went wrong and also I think when you play season after season, teams tend to target you differently. One of things we tried to do throughout the off-season and throughout the season was to understand the challenges we were going to face. There is a stark difference in terms of how he’s using his deliveries – using the one that goes away a lot more than he was doing last year.
“So, a lot of work went in not just technically and tactically but also understanding his mindset in terms of understanding how individuals are going to target him. I think last year when he didn’t have a great season, the ways in which every team was targeting him and certain areas where they constantly hit him.
“I think once we analyzed and understood that, we obviously spoke about getting revs on the ball and getting more bounce and speed off the pitch.”
Abhishek Nayar
Chakravarthy finished the game against CSK with figures of 2/36 after taking the wickets of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane.
