“Shah Rukh Khan’s grand gesture to KKR star Rinku Singh after T20 World Cup defeat”. To attend

While the Board of Control for Cricket in Inda (BCCI) announced India’s 15-man squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup, there was no place for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star Rinku Singh. The young middle-order batsman was not in explosive form in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, playing only as an ‘Impact Player’ in most matches. But as far as his form for Team India is concerned, Rinku has hardly put a foot wrong in the 2 ODIs and 15 T20Is he has played. Even so, the selectors had to choose other options, leaving Rinku only as a reserve player for the decisive event. While the cricket world and fans sympathized with Rinku, KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan was spotted accompanying him alone on the way to Mumbai.

Shah Rukh, who has become one of Rinku’s biggest fans, having witnessed his heroics with the bat for KKR over the past few seasons, seemed to be ensuring that the batsman doesn’t feel alone in these trying times. Here is the video:

Shah Rukh Khan along with Rinku Singh on his way to Mumbai. [Viral Bhayani]

– SRK is always with his players in difficult times pic.twitter.com/GS46CJm72b

– João. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 30, 2024

Rinku Singh is a ‘victim’ of the impact player rule.

The ‘Impact Player’ rule, which made IPL competitions literally a “12-a-side affair”, was unfair treatment to batsman Rinku Singh, who failed to make the Indian senior squad for the World Cup T20 as he simply didn’t get enough game time to his credit.

The 26-year-old Aligarh left-hander, who captured the imagination of the cricket world with five sixes in an over in the previous IPL, paved the way for Shivam Dube in the senior squad, while his name ended up among the reserves.

Dube came in thanks to more playing time for Chennai Super Kings during their first 10 league games.

Those who were privy to the selection meeting held in Ahmedabad on Tuesday unanimously agreed that Rinku became an easy omission from the panel because he could not be placed alongside Hardik Pandya and Dube in the same 15.

“Undoubtedly, Rinku has paid the price for the Impact Bowler Rule. He is simply unlucky. Hardik may be in poor form, but he is still India’s best bowling all-rounder and it would have been a risk to drop him , considering he is the only one who bowled,” a BCCI source told PTI on condition of anonymity.

So how did the Impact Player Rule become Rinku’s undoing? Kolkata Knight Riders treated Rinku as a finisher and he never got a chance to bat in the top five. In eight innings before selection, he bowled just 82 balls, which equates to about 10 balls per inning.

The two Iyers – Venkatesh and captain Shreyas – along with Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who is anything but a power hitter, got the majority of the overs, leaving Rinku with very little to do in the end.

With PTI inputs