When India's squad for ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 was announced, Rinku Singh was the major absentee. Shivam Dube was chosen ahead of him despite Rinku who has a stupendous average in the format. Dube provided a pace-bowling option. Also, he was in better form than Rinku in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Rinku travelled with the team as one of the reserves and lifted the trophy. Nearly two months after the historic triumph, Rinku revealed his conversation with skipper with Rohit Sharma and how he motivated him after the snub.
"Haan woh (Rohit Sharma) aaye the samjane ki koi baat nahi, teri umar hi kya hai. World Cup aage bohot hai. Mehnat karte reh. Har do saal mein World Cup aata hai, uspe dhyaan de. Koi dikaat nahi hai, pareshan mat ho [He came to me and made me understand that it was okay, you are quite young. There will be many many World Cups in the future. Keep on working hard. There is a World Cup every two years, focus on that. Don't be disappointed]," Rinku told News24.
Rinku was also asked about who is his favourite captain. He picked Rohit as his favourite but said he likes Virat Kohli's aggression.
"I like Rohit Sharma's captaincy. I like Virat Kohli as well because aggression is very important while leading a team. So, his captaincy was also very good," he said.
Rinku playing in UPT20 League
Rinku is currently leading Meerut Mavericks in Uttar Pradesh T20 League. Meerut Mavericks won the campaign opener by seven wickets against Kashi Rudras. He will be seen in action against Kanpur Superstars on August 27.
Rinku’s T20I numbers
Rinku has played 23 T20Is so far and averages 59.71 with 418 runs from 17 innings. He has two half-centuries. The southpaw's strike rate is 174.16.
In the T20I series Sri Lanka, Rinku was tasked to bowl the penultimate over against Sri Lanka by Suryakumar Yadav. With nine runs to defend, he bowled an excellent over conceding just three runs and bagging two crucial wickets. India ended up winning the T20I in super over to complete cleansweep.
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