The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) might have been knocked out of the IPL 2023 but they have found a superstar batter in Rinku Singh. They lost to Lucknow Super Giants by the smallest of margins on Saturday night at Eden Gardens. Chasing 177, KKR needed 18 off the final three balls and Rinku gave the fans hope by sending the fourth delivery out of the park. He tried hitting another off the penultimate delivery but couldn’t take the aerial route and ended up getting a boundary. He ended the game with another maximum but it was too late by then.
Rinku’s knock went in vain but he has been getting lauded by the experts for his notable contributions throughout the season. Had he got some support from other KKR batters towards the end of the chase, LSG might have found themselves in a spot of bother. The same was the opinion of former cricketer Virender Sehwag.
Speaking with Cricbuzz after KKR’s loss, the former India opener said, “Rinku Singh tried very hard but none of the other batters did anything. There were a lot of hopes from Russell, but nothing happened. If he had stuck around for a little while with Rinku, the result of the match could have been different.”
“I’d say even if Shardul Thakur was there with Rinku in the final over, the single or double that they missed, they would have taken and Shardul can also hit the ball, which we can’t expect from Vaibhav Arora,” he added.
Sehwag further heaped massive praise on Rinku and reckoned that IPL 2023 could be the path-breaking season for the batter from Aligarh.
“Rinku kept himself cool and calm during the chase. Not once did he even tell Vaibhav Arora what the game plan would be. He just kept it simple and calm in the middle. Rinku has shown calmness whenever KKR were chasing. Even today, he remained unbeaten and fell short by just one run,” said Sehwag.
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