Bipin Dani
The last over for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team against Gujarat Titans team in the IPL on Sunday started with 29 needed. Then it was 28 from five balls. The KKR fans may have lost their hopes. But not the family members of Rinkuy Singh.
It followed carnage, and an unlikely Knight Riders win at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Thanks to the 25-year-old middle order batter Rinku Singh, who hails from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.
“Honestly speaking, we had not lost hope”, Rinku’s sister Neha said over the telephone from her home. “We are all very happy with the game my brother played yesterday. We have no words to express our joy”.
“Yes, it was always a difficult task to score 29 runs in an over but we were still optimistic and believed that Rinku is capable of hitting the target. When he sent three balls out of the fence, we thought now Rinku is determined to take his team from the jaws of defeat and that’s what he did with the last two balls”.
Rinku’s childhood coach, Masood Amini had also not lost hope. :”I was expecting this miracle. Rinku is a committed player and never loses concentration even in a difficult match situation”.
“We don’t have proper pitches or facilities to play cricket. In spite of this, Rinku’s rise is remarkable’’, the coach noted.
Rinku’s family only regretted that they were not at the stadium. “We watched our brother’s match on TV and once the team won the match, the congratulatory messages from our friends and neighbours kept pouring in”.
The Kolkata franchise has acquired the services of Rinku Singh for Rs 55.00 Lac. His father, Khan Chandra Singh, however has not given up his job. He was serving as a gas cylinder delivery man. Last year only, Rinku had asked his father to leave the backbreaking job. Khanchandra was the sole breadwinner till recently.
“No, my father has not given up his job. He still works at the gas station. He is promoted as a supervisor in Govila Gas agency”.
It is a large family of 15 — comprising father, his wife Bina Devi, and their daughter and five sons, three of whom are married and are living in the small house with their families.
Rinku had no interest in his studies and was a dropout student and was once offered a sweeper’s job which he declined and concentrated in cricket and has now earned a name in the game.
