20-year-old Rinku Singh from Aligarh is the newest recruit of Kolkata Knight Riders. With a base price of Rs 20 lakh, the left-handed opener was lapped up by KKR for Rs 80 lakh. Though it is not the first time that the young Singh is a part of a franchise as he was bought by Kings XI Punjab for his base price of Rs 10 lakh in 2017. But what makes his tale intriguing is the fact that he hails from a poor family. His father earns a livelihood by working as an LPG delivery man.
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Background
Hailing from the city of Taj Mahal, Agra is a city that is also famous for it’s ‘petha’, an Indian sweet. However, Singh has played most of his cricket in NCR which boasts of good cricket academies like Thrive Cricket Academy and Goenka Chahar Cricket Academy.
According to TOI, his father Khanchandra Singh said that he had asked his son to stop studying and concentrate on cricket because he had spotted the talent in him during his early years.
Rinku Singh with idol Suresh Raina
Rinku’s Rise
He shot to fame when he smashed 154 runs in a match at Agra, drawing early attention to his talent. He reinforced his abilities in 2014 during the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he hit 206 and 154 runs in two matches. He finally made it to the UP Ranji Trophy team in 2016 and recently played in Delhi. Rinku started playing cricket way back in 2009 and in the subsequent three years, he made it to the Uttar Pradesh U-16 as well as the U-19 squad.
Rinku Singh with idol Suresh Raina
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Auction Table Drama
There was a bidding war at the auction table on January 28 over Rinku as Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders fought it out to get the all-rounder on board. It so happened that his auction was probably among the most exciting bidding wars on Day 1 of the Auctions. Mumbai Indians had also spotted promise in him and so did Kolkata, but as it turned out he was fetched for Rs 80 lakhs by the Knights.
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It came as a surprise to everyone that KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik gave Rinku a chance in starting playing XI of the tournament.
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