Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Rinku Singh after the left-hander played a magnificent knock against Lucknow Super Giants at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Wednesday.
Singh scored a fine cameo of 40 runs off just 15 balls against LSG to keep his team in contention.
KKR had to chase a huge score of 211 runs against LSG and they were behind the eight-ball as they needed 67 runs off the last four overs. However, Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine were able to keep their team in the contest as they were able to hit the ground running. Narine also played a fine cameo of 7-ball 21 to support his partner.
In fact, 21 runs were needed off the final over and Singh was able to score a four and two sixes in the first three balls. However, Singh was dismissed on the penultimate ball and KKR could not get over the line as they lost by two runs.
Meanwhile, Rinku Singh has impressed in IPL 2022 as he provided the finishing touches for KKR. The left-hander from Aligarh scored 174 runs in seven matches at an average of 34.80 and a strike rate of 148.71 in the tournament and he was one of the biggest positives for KKR.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “I am talking about Rinku Singh. He has made a mark for himself. I love the way Rinku batted, I love the way he fields. He even wrote in his hand one day that he will be the Player of the Match and he became one that day as well. I am very happy for him.”
“The match was over, Sunil Narine was batting alongside Rinku Singh. Andre Russell, Shreyas Iyer, Nitish Rana, Sam Billings – everyone had gotten dismissed and it seemed nothing was going to happen in the match, the story is over, how can you win?”
In fact, it seemed an impossible task that KKR will get near the target but Rinku Singh and Sunil Narine batted at a different level altogether to keep the fans on the edge of their seats.
“There our Rinku comes and scores 40 runs off just 15 balls, with two fours and four sixes. Plenty of runs were required in the last over but he almost scored those. Sixes and fours but then when he got out and the catch Evin Lewis held, you lost your mind, that the match was going on in a different world.”
The former KKR player added that Rinku Singh made the most of his opportunities and grabbed them with both hands.
“Life or cricket gave him another opportunity, he was getting few chances, he has been there with this team for a long time but he didn’t use to get that many opportunities and when he got them he couldn’t make the best use of them. But this year he got chances because the others didn’t perform well and Rinku Singh grabbed this opportunity with both hands.”
After this narrow loss, KKR is now out of the playoff race.
