Star batter Rinku Singh is set to make his return to India’s playing XI for the crucial 4th T20I against England in Cuttack on Friday. After featuring in the series-opener in Kolkata, Rinku sat out the last two games in Chennai and Rajkot, respectively, owing to back spasms. However, on the eve of the game in Cuttack, India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate confirmed that Rinku will be available for selection, having looked in good rhythm while batting in the nets on a day earlier.

“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 a pre-match press conference on Thursday.

Rinku’s likely inclusion would be a major boost for the Indian team as it looks to wrap up the series on Friday ahead of the fifth and final game in Mumbai on Sunday.

If the team management does decide to ship Rinku into the playing XI, young wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel is likely to make the way. Unlike Jurel, Rinku is likely to bat higher up the order and will provide more stability in the middle-order.

It is highly unlikely that India will make any other change. Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma will continue to open, while Tilak Varma‘s match-winning knock in Chennai has earned him a longer rope in the team.

Mohammed Shami needs a lot of bowling in match situations and the Rajkot game was a decent restart to his international career without being spectacular. For continuity, the management is likely to persist with the veteran for this game at least. 

India’s Likely XI For 4th T20I vs England:

Sanju Samson (wk), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Shami and Varun Chakravarthy

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 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.

Samson, the maverick keeper-batter from Kerala, whose sympathetic and loyal fan base never fails to remind everyone of the limited chances he has got, started the T20I season with three hundreds against Bangladesh and South Africa prior to the ongoing series.

In the current rubber, he has had scores of 26, 5 and 3 and it is not these numbers that are concerning. In T20 cricket, if one factors in risk, there would always be lot of less profitable days at the office considering the kind of strokes batters play these days.

But in case of Samson, what is of concern is his palpable discomfort against anything bowled above 145 clicks.

Against Bangladesh at home, he faced Taskin Ahmed, Tanzim Hasan Shakib while in South Africa Andile Simelane and Lutho Sipamla were among the bowlers.

These are not exactly intimidating fast bowlers and he rightfully took them to the cleaners. These are bowlers who fire in between 130 to 140 clicks and can be hit through the line on flat decks.

However, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood are different beasts, bowling between 145 kmph to 155 kmph and that pace is creating problems for Samson.

During all three games, the Kerala batter couldn’t even get his bat down as deliveries would thud into Phil Salt’s gloves.

The hard lengths and steep bounce are creating a problem and even on batting shirt-fronts, it is not easy to hit through the line if one doesn’t have proper technique or doesn’t regularly face this quality of fast bowling.

Samson is one of head coach Gautam Gambhir’s favourites and it is expected that he would be persisted with going into next year’s T20 World Cup.

But his technical issues need to be sorted out at the earliest by Gambhir, new batting coach Sitanshu Kotak and the himself.

Dhruv Jurel looks a misfit

Rinku Singh’s back spasms forced the team management to try Dhruv Jurel in the No.7 position but he has looked out of place in this particular format unlike Test cricket.

Rinku was rested for the first two games but assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate declared the batter fit for Friday’s contest in the pre-match press conference.

But even Rinku, after a glorious start to his T20I career, has gone off the rails.

When Gambhir became Kolkata Knikght Riders mentor, Rinku got to play a total of 70 odd balls in the 2024 IPL. As a result, he couldn’t make it to the T20 World Cup as Shivam Dube, with his bowling ability, was considered better in the Americas.

The Indian middle order hasn’t exactly played England spinner Adil Rashid well so far and with Dube back in the mix, will Gambhir take a chance with him? Looks unlikely as given the pace of England speedsters even the burly Mumbaikar would be ill at ease.

The third option is Ramandeep Singh, who also looks exciting as a finisher and is a better seamer than Dube. But even he is untested against quality pace attack.

Will Arshdeep be back in order to seal the series

Mohammed Shami needs a lot of bowling in match situations and the Rajkot game was a decent restart to his international career without being spectacular.

While a bilateral series win counts for little, Gambhir wouldn’t like the ignominy of being the first coach under whom India lost a home T20I series against England.

Hence, it would be interesting if Arshdeep Singh, India’s best T20I bowler in absence of Jasprit Bumrah is in line to come back and give some breakthroughs in the Powerplay overs.

Teams (from): India: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Tilak Varma, Axar Patel, Hardik Pandya, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Shami, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana.

England: Jos Buttler (captain), Phil Salt (wk), Ben Duckett, Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone, Jamie Smith (wk), Adil Rashid, Brydon Carse, Jamie Overton, Gus Atkinson, Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Jacob Bethell, Saqib Mahmood.

Match Starts at 7 pm IST.

File photo of Shreyas Iyer© X (Twitter)

Star India batter Rinku Singh has gifted his father a sports bike. For his gesture, the cricketer was praised by fans on social media. Rinku’s family went through financial struggles, but the cricketer managed to help them overcome the difficult phase with his sheer hard work and dedication. Rinku’s father Khanchand Singh used to deliver cooking gas cylinders to make ends meet. Despite his son becoming a famous cricketer now, Khanchand remains down-to-earth and he still goes to work every day.

Recently, Rinku gifted his father a Kawasaki Ninja 400 sports bike, which is worth more than Rs 5 lakh. In a viral video, Rinku’s father can be seen riding the bike and going to work on it.

Rinku’s gesture for his father was lauded by fans on social media.

Meanwhile, Rinku is set to marry Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Priya Saroj, according to her family. Priya Saroj’s father and SP MLA from Kerakat Tufani Saroj told PTI that his family held “meaningful talks” with Singh’s father in Aligarh on February 16 regarding the marriage of their children and both sides agreed to the matrimonial alliance. 

No ring ceremony or pre-wedding programme has been held so far, he said. According to Tufani Saroj, a three-time MP, his daughter and Singh got acquainted through one of her friends whose father is also a cricketer. 

“Rinku and Priya have known each other for more than a year now. They both liked each other but needed the consent of their families for their relationship. Both the families have agreed to this marriage,” he said.

Dates of engagement and wedding will be decided after the Parliament session. The engagement will be held in Lucknow, he said.

Singh is going to England for a T20 series from January 22. He will also be playing in the IPL after this. It will be ensured that the wedding functions do not impact his game, he added.

According to sources, the two families met at Singh’s house in Ozone City, Aligarh and finalised the marriage by exchanging ‘shagun’ and gifts.

File photo of Rinku Singh (left) and Priya Saroj.© X (formerly Twitter)

The first game of SA20 2025 was played between Sunrisers Eastern Cape and MI Cape Town on Friday in Gqeberha. In the opening match, Cape Town emerged victorious by 97 runs as they posted 174/7 while batting first and then bundled out the Sunrisers for 77. During the match, MI batter Dewald Brevis, who scored 57 off 29 balls, hammered a huge six which brought back the memories of a gigantic six from India batter Rinku Singh in 2023. The Indian had hit a big maximum off Aiden Markram during a T20I match against South Africa in December 2023, which ended up damaging sightscreen of the press box. 

Interestingly, after 394 days on the incident, the sightscreen which was broken by Rinku’s six, is still not repaired due to the budget constraints. The press box at the St George’s Park in Gqeberha is placed at a high altitude and it is also one of the reasons for the delay in the repair work. 

After the opening match of SA20 2025, Terrance, who is one of the officials of the St George’s Park and looks after the maintenance work, spoke to Hindustan Times and shared some details. 

“Firstly, look at the height. It’s too much and not that easily possible to get fixed because it would require a crane and all sorts of heavy machinery. You can’t bring all that stuff into the field when you have games like these. We’ve had windows broken here at the bottom from time to time. That we fix in a jiffy. So there is always a priority set. And with the budget shortage, we have to work with what we’ve got,” said Terrance. 

“We had the roof fixed. If you see that roof, we’ve got it covered. That is a new roof. I can show you projects that have been successfully completed,” he added. 

Terrance further stated that during a storm in August 2024, the condition of the stadium deteriorated and a lot of money was spent on the repair work. 

“We suffered storms in August, so the entire roof of a stand blew away. And then we made a claim to the insurer, who said it’s wear-and-tear. We can’t really pay for that. And we had to pay around 400,000R. It was quite a big portion,” he said. 

“Other parts had corrosion, and so on; those needed repairing and some replacements. It cost a lot of money. So, in that context, I am saying it’s not really a priority. Because it doesn’t pose a danger to anybody. Then again, it doesn’t mean that it’s not on our list to get it fixed,” he added. 

In a connection between the worlds of cricket and movies, India and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star Rinku Singh was seen mimicking the signature action of Pushpa Raj from the movie the ‘Pushpa’ movie series. In the wake of Telegu action-thriller ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ being a hit in the Indian box office, the hype seems to have caught up among the cricket world as well. Amid their Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign, Rinku Singh was seen copying the action of actor Allu Arjun.

In a video posted on Instagram, Rinku can be seen doing the action, alongside some of his Uttar Pradesh teammates at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2024.

Watch: Rinku Singh sets internet ablaze

Pushpa Rinku Singh.

– The craze for Allu Arjun. pic.twitter.com/FTVkvQ6cah

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 14, 2024

The action-thriller, directed by Sukumar and starring Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna, has been a major box office hit. Despite mixed to good ratings, the film has become the fastest Indian movie to cross box office earnings of Rs 1,000 crore globally.

Actor Allu Arjun was arrested in the aftermath of the film, as his team was accused after a stampede in a ‘Pushpa 2’ screening in Hyderabad caused the death of a woman and seriously injured a child on December 4.

Allu Arjun, following his release from jail on Saturday, said he is a law-abiding citizen and will cooperate in the probe.

“I want to thank all my fans. There is nothing to worry about. I would like to once again express my condolences to the family. It was an unfortunate incident. We are sorry for what happened,” he said.

On the other hand, Rinku Singh had a successful Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy campaign. Despite Uttar Pradesh’s quarter-final exit at the hands of Delhi, Rinku managed to score 277 runs at an average of almost 70 and a strike rate of over 150.

Rinku was retained by KKR for Rs 13 crore ahead of IPL 2025.

Rinku Singh in action© X (Twitter)

KKR Full Squad, IPL 2025: After buying back four players from their IPL 2024-winning squad, including all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer for a sensational Rs 23.75 crore, Kolkata Knight Riders head into Day 2 of the IPL 2025 mega auction looking to fill gaps in their middle order and buy adequate backups for their existing stars. KKR enter Day 2 with an auction purse of Rs 10.05 cr, and still require at least five players to reach the minimum squad requirement of 18 players. (Full Squad)

Players Bought By KKR In IPL 2025 Auction –

1. Venkatesh Iyer – Rs 23.75 Crore

2. Quinton De Kock – Rs 3.6 Crore

3. Rahmanullah Gurbaz – Rs 2 Crore

4. Anrich Nortje – Rs 6.5 Crore

5. Angkrish Raghuvanshi – Rs 3 Crore

6. Vaibhav Arora – Rs 1.8 Crore

7.  Mayank Markande – Rs 30 lakh

8. Rovman Powell – Rs 1.5 crore

9. Manish Pandey – Rs 75 lakh

10. Spencer Johnson – Rs 2.8 crore

11. Luvnith Sisodia – Rs 30 lakh

12. Ajinkya Rahane – Rs 1.5 crore

13. Anukul Roy – Rs 40 lakh

14. Moeen Ali – Rs 2 crore

15. Umran Malik – Rs 75 lakh

Full list of retained players: Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana

Full list of released players: Shreyas Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana, Sherfane Rutherford, Phil Salt, KS Bharat, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Vaibhav Arora, Mitchell Starc, Chetan Sakariya

KKR Full Squad, IPL 2025: Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders bought back as many as four players from their IPL 2024-winning squad, breaking the bank for all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer with a Rs 23.75 crore purchase on Day 1 of the IPL 2025 mega auction. Indian uncapped batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi, uncapped pacer Vaibhav Arora and Afghan wicket-keeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz also returned to purple and gold. KKR also made a significant investment for two South Africans – Quinton de Kock and Anrich Nortje. While they failed to get Phil Salt and Shreyas Iyer despite going hard, KKR added to their already strong retentions list. (Full Squad)

Players Bought By KKR In IPL 2025 Auction –

1. Venkatesh Iyer – Rs 23.75 Crore

2. Quinton De Kock – Rs 3.6 Crore

3. Rahmanullah Gurbaz – Rs 2 Crore

4. Anrich Nortje – Rs 6.5 Crore

5. Angkrish Raghuvanshi – Rs 3 Crore

6. Vaibhav Arora – Rs 1.8 Crore

7.  Mayank Markande – Rs 30 lakh

Full list of retained players: Sunil Narine, Rinku Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana

Full list of released players: Shreyas Iyer, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Nitish Rana, Sherfane Rutherford, Phil Salt, KS Bharat, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Anukul Roy, Venkatesh Iyer, Suyash Sharma, Allah Ghazanfar, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain, Vaibhav Arora, Mitchell Starc, Chetan Sakariya