Sunil Gavaskar, an Indian batting icon, praised Rinku Singh, citing parallels to previous hitter Yuvraj Singh.
Rinku has made remarkable advances in his limited T20I career after an excellent IPL 2023 season in which he scored 474 runs at an average of over 60 and a strike rate of 149.53. Despite playing the unappreciated finishing job, the 26-year-old is averaging a magnificent 60 in six T20Is with a terrifying strike rate of 187.50.
Gavaskar believes Rinku could carry his head high if he could achieve part of what Yuvraj done for Indian cricket.
“Now he’s part of an India team. And now there’s so much, so many high expectations of them. They are now expecting him to be another Yuvraj Singh. Rinku Singh – Yuvraj Singh. So if you can do even a fraction of what Yuvraj did for Indian cricket, then he will have done wonderfully well.”
Sunil Gavaskar
Yuvraj Singh stood out as a skilled one-day player for India. He made nearly 12,000 runs and hit 17 hundreds before he retired.
Yuvraj earned the Player of the Tournament title during India’s victorious 2011 ODI World Cup campaign. He was key to India’s success in the first T20 World Cup in 2007.
“He has the belief that he could do it” – Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar spoke highly of Rinku Singh, noting his persistence and confidence. Singh took full advantage of his chance when it came.
Despite his considerable potential, the 26-year-old has only played 17 IPL games since his debut in 2018. Rinku earned a call-up to the national team after the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) finally offered him the complete 14-game season the previous season.
“Talent – it’s not given to everybody. You can love the game. You can play all day, but sometimes you know you might not quite have the talent, but he has the belief that he could do it, and that’s what he’s done over the last 2-3 years. Again here in the IPL, he was in and out of a lot of teams when he finally got the opportunity and the way he grabbed it (was amazing).”
Sunil Gavaskar
Rinku is well-known for his violent onslaught on Gujarat Titans bowler Yash Dayal in the penultimate over, hammering five sixes to help KKR pull off a miracle.
This year, he has followed it up with multiple high-flying finishes for his brand and Team India.