IPL 2022: KKR hero Rinku Singh opens up on hardships, says ‘my father didn’t eat for 2-3 days when…’

Kolkata Knight Riders very nearly pulled away with a remarkable win over Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai, only if Rinku Singh hadn’t been dismissed. The youngster carried KKR all the way through after Andre Russell’s dismissal in a huge chase of 211 runs. 

The two-time IPL champs knew they needed a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, and Rinku did his best to upset the Lucknow side, as he scored 18 runs off the first four balls of the last over to take his side on the brink of victory. 

Then, it all fell apart for KKR as Singh got dismissed after a great fielding effort from Evin Lewis, and Marcus Stoinis clean bowled Umesh Yadav on the last ball to seal a 2-run win for LSG. 

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The youngster nonetheless won hearts all over with his gritty knock of 40 off 15 balls, and he’s had to overcome a lot of hardships in his life. 

Rinku Singh’s story has a huge dose of hardships, rejection, dejection and heartbreak and eventually success.

In between, his story also involves injury scares and a three-month suspension by the BCCI in 2019 for playing in a T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi.

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Rinku survived all those setbacks, scored a pile of runs for Uttar Pradesh at the domestic level and slowly and steadily achieved success.

Take a bow, @rinkusingh235 #AmiKKR #KKRvLSG #IPL2022 pic.twitter.com/9l7yMltyfB
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 18, 2022

The left-hander said that the last five years of his career have been challenging, but he didn’t lose self-belief during his injury times. The batter from Aligarh said that his father didn’t eat for 2-3 days when he heard about his injury.

“I wasn’t happy staying away from cricket for so long. My father didn’t eat for 2-3 days. I told him it’s just an injury and it’s part of cricket. I’m the sole breadwinner of my life and when such things happen, it is bound to be worrisome,” Singh said in a video uploaded on KKR’s official Facebook page.

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“Those 5 years were really tough for me. After the first year, when I was picked for KKR and I got a chance to play, I couldn’t perform well. Still, KKR trusted me a lot and they retained me for the next couple of seasons,” he added.

The man who won the hearts through his superb innings

Read more #AmiKKR #KKRvLSG #IPL2022https://t.co/Qo1SPe5v0r

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) May 18, 2022

The southpaw nearly completed a remarkable comeback for KKR, and in a season where there was a lot of gloom, the two-time IPL champs will be happy with the bright spark that Rinku Singh has shown. 

With inputs from IANS