IPL 2022: Those five years were tough for me – Rinku Singh recalls his struggles

Kolkata Knight Riders batter Rinku Singh has seen a lot of lows in his career. The left-hander from Aligarh was roped by KKR in IPL 2018 auction but he could not grab his opportunities. Furthermore, the southpaw batter was ruled out of IPL 2021 due to a knee injury, which he suffered while playing for UP during Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Meanwhile, as the famous adage goes, “Hard times don’t last forever, hard people do”. Rinku Singh made an impressive return to IPL 2022 as he grabbed his chances in the tournament. Singh scored a fine knock of 40 runs off just 15 balls against Lucknow Super Giants to almost get his team over the line when the match looked done and dusted.

Singh scored 174 runs in seven matches at an average of 34.80 and a strike rate of 148.71 in the tournament and he was one of the biggest positives for KKR.

“Those 5 years were really tough for me. After the first year, when I was picked for KKR and I got a chance to play, I couldn’t perform well. Still, KKR trusted me a lot and they retained me for the next couple of seasons,” Singh said in a video uploaded on KKR’s official Facebook page.

Singh added he had the self-belief he will bounce back stronger after recovering from the major knee injury.

“I trained hard the way my body language is. The team never thought I was down. Last year was quite tough for me as I got a knee injury during the Vijay Hazare Trophy while running a double. The moment I fell, I thought of the IPL. They told me I needed an operation and would require 6-7 months to recover.

In fact, Singh revealed his father didn’t eat anything for two to three days when he underwent the surgery.

“I wasn’t happy staying away from cricket for so long. My father didn’t eat for 2-3 days. I told him its’ 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,” he stated. “I was a bit sad, but I knew I would recover quickly as I had a lot of self-belief,” the southpaw added.

KKR is now knocked out of the tournament after their loss against LSG.