Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said that middle-order batter Rinku Singh is the definite option for the role of finisher in the India squad. While he was snubbed for the ongoing T20I series against West Indies, he made his way to the Indian squad for the T20I rubber against Ireland and the Asian Games 2023 as well. However, Rinku Singh was in red-hot form in IPL 2023 for KKR, smashing 474 runs at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.53 as well.
Speaking to the Republic World, Nayar backed Rinku Singh but also added that the role needs complete backing and a longer rope also. “There are multiple players who can achieve that. There is one player, Rinku Singh who played the role of a finisher really well for KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) in the 16th edition of the IPL. He has also played that role in domestic cricket, but in my opinion he’ll still need some more time, he’ll need a longer rope, he needs to be backed,” said Nayar.
Nayar also shared that while Tilak Varma is impressive up the order, Rinku Singh is the only one currently who can finish the innings.
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“Being a finisher is very tough and you’ll have more failures than success while taking that responsibility. It requires a lot of experience. Tilak Varma has proved his mettle up the order and he is terrific at number 4 but the only name that comes to my mind and I say it clearly without any bias is Rinku Singh,” again shared Abhishek Nayar. “I have seen this Indian kid do so well as a finisher. He has this unique capability of going in and consistently hitting big sixes. He is not one of the biggest blokes. He can play that role really well, but he will need that long rope.”
Apart from his heroics in the IPL, Rinku Singh also has impressive numbers in first-class and List-A cricket. He averages almost 58 in the domestic red-ball format with over 3,000 runs and nearly 50 in the List-A format for Uttar Pradesh as well. Abhishek Nayar also chose not to comment on letting Shubman Gill walk away from the KKR setup before the IPL 2022 auction.
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Notably, Gill played from 2018 to 2021 for the KKR franchise, with the final two years scoring more than 400 runs each. However, he was picked up by Gujarat Titans ahead of the 2022 season and has evolved into arguably the best batter of the IPL since as well.
When he was asked about KKR not resigning Gill, Nayar replied: “Woah, that’s a brave question. These are very internal matters and they remain within the franchise so I choose not to talk about that.”
