There was a big furore on social media when KKR star Rinku Singh was not selected in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming 5-T20I series against West Indies in the West Indies and the USA. Rinku Singh, though, is letting only his bat do the talking as his played a cracker-jacker innings in the Duleep Trophy semi-final.
The 25-year-old Rinku Singh was part of the Central Zone team that took on West Zone in the Duleep Trophy semi-final last week in Alur. The match ended in a draw, but West Zone proceeded through to the final as they had taken a lead after first innings of both teams.
Rinku Singh displayed some of his IPL fireworks in this red-ball game. In the first innings he scored 48 runs off 69 balls – he was the top-scorer in the first innings for Central Zone as the side got bundled out for only 128 in reply to West Zone’s 220.
West Zone then scored 297 runs and set Central Zone a target of 390 runs. Even as the target was very big, almost impossible to chase with only 35 overs left to play in the spicy conditions in Alur, Central Zone had to go after the target in order to reach the final.
However, the top-order couldn’t come to terms with the requirement: none of the top four scored over 30 and all four batted at a strike rate of less than 50.
Rinku Singh shares highlights of his innings on Instagram
Rinku Singh, though, wasn’t giving up yet. He came out at number 5 and kept swinging for the fences and smashed 3 sixes and 3 fours in his entertaining knock that reminded fans of his exploits in the IPL 2023. He played a cracker-jacker knock of 40 runs off 30 balls to give the selectors a reminder of his abilities.
He shared the highlights of his knock on Instagram, seemingly a message to the selectors:
View this post on Instagram
Rinku had a stunning, breakthrough IPL 2023 season. He was the top-scorer for KKR with 474 runs at an average of 59 and strike rate of 149. So it was a big surprise for the fans when the left-hander was not selected for T20Is in West Indies.
