‘My father did not eat for days when I got injured’

Rinku Singh of Kolkata Knight Riders plays a shot during the 66th T20 cricket match of the Indian Premier League 2022 (IPL season 15), between Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders, at DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai. Pic/PTI

Rinku Singh's story has a lot of hardships, rejection, dejection and heart-break and eventual success. In between, it also involves injury scares and a three-month suspension by the BCCI in 2019 for playing in a T20 tournament in Abu Dhabi. Rinku survived all those setbacks, scored a pile of runs for Uttar Pradesh at the domestic level and slowly and steadily achieved success.

The left-hander said that the last five years have been challenging, but he didn't lose self-belief. The batter from Aligarh said that his father did not 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 on KKR's Facebook page.

"Those five years were really tough. After the first year, when I was picked for KKR and I got a chance to play, I couldn't perform. Still, KKR trusted me and retained me for two seasons," added Rinku, 24, who was picked by Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in 2017, but failed to get a chance. KKR then picked him at the 2018 auction for Rs 80 lakh and he remained with them till 2021 when he a knee injury ruled him out of the IPL. Though he didn't get a chance to play, his work ethic, friendly nature and desire to contribute endeared him to the franchise and KKR again bought him in again February this year. "Last year, was tough for me as I picked up a knee injury during the Vijay Hazare Trophy. I was told I needed surgery and would require 6-7 months to recover. I was sad, but I had self-belief that I'll recover soon," he said.

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