Rinku Singh scored just nine runs in eight balls, despite a promising start.© X (Twitter)
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Rinku Singh failed to impress on his first outing after being left out of India’s 15-man T20 World Cup squad. Rinku’s exclusion from the team has sparked a debate with fans and experts suggesting that the explosive batter should’ve been part of the 15-man squad. Rinku is one of the four travelling reserves for the tournament in the West Indies and USA. The 26-year-old, however, had a horror outing in his first IPL match after the unfortunate T20 World Cup snub.
On Friday, during KKR’s game against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Rinku scored just nine runs in eight balls, despite a promising start where he hit Hardik Pandya for two boundaries.
However, he was dismissed by Piyush Chawla in the veteran’s first ball of the match. Chawla deceived the youngster with a wrong’un, with Rinku chipping the ball straight back to him.
Rinku’s dismissal, however, left KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir visibly frustrated in the dug out.
Watch: Rinku Singh’s dismissal leaves Gautam Gambhir fuming
— VEDANT BLANCO (@MrTrequartista7) May 4, 2024
Coming back to the match, Mitchell Starc picked up four wickets as a disciplined bowling performance helped KKR beat MI for the first time in 12 years at the Wankhede Stadium.
Chasing a below-par 170, Mumbai lost wickets at regular intervals to be bowled out for 145 off 18.5 overs at the Wankhede Stadium.
Suryakumar Yadav raised hopes with a 35-ball 56 but his dismissal in the 16th over tilted the scales in favour of Kolkata.
Earlier, Kolkata lost five quick wickets including that of the prolific Phil Salt (five) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (six) after being put in to bat.
Tottering at 57-5, Venkatesh Iyer (70) and impact sub Manish Pandey (42) steadied Kolkata with an 83-run stand and ensured a respectable total on the board.
Iyer, who hit a century at the same ground last season, hit three sixes and six fours in his fighting 52-ball knock.
(With AFP Inputs)
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