File image of Rinku Singh.© AFP
Attempting some cheeky and audacious shots, a fit-again Rinku Singh was in full flow during an extended net session ahead of the fourth T20 International against England on Friday. Rinku was rested from the second and third game of the series due to back spasms and India’s assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate confirmed that the Aligarh dasher is good to go on Friday. “Rinku is fit. He played the first game, hurt himself and missed the next two. But I would imagine Rinku comes back in as soon as he’s proper fit. He batted the other night and I think he’ll be ready to go tomorrow,” Ten Doeschate said during the pre-match press conference.
On the day, Rinku was seen trying the falling reverse lap scoop and reverse pull by using the pace in Ravi Bishnoi’s googlies, a style that reminds of Rishabh Pant’s audacious stroke-making. He batted extensively against Bishnoi and India’s flavour of T20 season Varun Chakravarthy.
He also switched nets and looked comfortable against Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami and Harshit Rana.
In fact, he batted from start to finish during the net session, finishing by taking throwdowns from Raghavendra and Abhishek Nayar.
Sanju Samson’s technical weaknesses against express pace along with Rinku Singh’s dip in form and fitness issues will be a concern for India when they take on a resurgent England in the fourth T20 International in Pune on Friday.
Having fluffed their chances in the third T20I in Rajkot, the penultimate game of the five-match series gives the hosts another opportunity to seal the series going into the final game in Mumbai on February 2. Suryakumar Yadav’s men won the first two games in Kolkata and Chennai.
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