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Andre Russell is best all-rounder in world at this moment: Rinku Singh

Andre Russell is best all-rounder in world at this moment: Rinku Singh

Abu Dhabi, Sep 17 (UNI) Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batsman Rinku Singh has called the West Indies cricketer Andre Russell the ‘best all-rounder’ in the world at this moment.
Rinku said, “He is the best all-rounder in the world at this moment. There is no one who can hit the ball better than him. He has a lot of life and strength in him. His sixes are massive and I just don’t see any batsman as a competition to him.”
“ I haven’t really spoken much with him because I can’t speak in English that well. But yeah, the first year we enjoyed a lot on his birthday in our room. We even partied and danced together. So, I guess we started bonding well afterwards, Rinku said in an interview on kkr.in.
Russell has an IPL career strike rate of 186, which is the highest by any player. The Jamaican was the most valuable player of the tournament last year for his 511 runs and 11 wickets
The left-hand batsman from Uttar Pradesh, Rinku Singh made his IPL debut in the IPL 2017 for the Kings XI Punjab – a man who dared to dream and pursued those dreams with all his might to have them fulfilled. Rinku became a part of KKR in 2018 and that auction changed his life.
Rinku said, “In the first year, Nitish (Rana) bhai and Apoorv (Wankhede) bhai used to be with me. Then in the next year, Apoorv bhai left. So, I started spending a lot of time with Kuldeep bhai and Nitish bhai.”
“The experience has been great. I have learnt so many things. I got to play such high-level cricket with legendary cricketers. My experience also grew on how to treat a match on its merit,” he said.
Crediting the turnaround to his training at KKR Academy under Abhishek Nayar, Rinku said, “It helped a lot. Last year, I did so well because of that. I scored around 950 runs in Ranji Trophy in 2018-19. I didn’t do well in the one-dayers (before Ranji Trophy) and I had spoken to Abhishek sir about it. I told him about the difficulties I was facing in batting and that I wanted to practise with him. He called me over and we trained a lot. I don’t think I have ever batted so much in my life as much as I did there. For almost 5 hours every day I used to continue batting and my hands even bled at times. The perseverance paid off in the Ranji Trophy later that season.”
The 22-year-old batsman said, “My average shot up last year when I scored 950 odd runs in Ranji Trophy. Last year my average was around 70. This year it actually dipped to 60. I tried to maintain it but couldn’t manage to. In red ball cricket, you have to be extremely focused and need to be mentally strong. The ball moves quite a bit and even the wicket conditions change over the days. So, we need to keep our focus intact.”
“In 2018, I actually went for the Mumbai Indians trials before the auctions. I hit 95 runs in 31 balls in one of those games. So, I was actually expecting Mumbai to pick me and not KKR. Kuldeep bhai told me that he already had a word with the KKR management about me and there was a chance. So, I was watching the auctions with a lot of anticipation. Mumbai Indians and KKR are both big names in IPL. On the auction day, I had secluded myself and watched the bidding all alone. My family watched it separately. It was a great feeling when the money soared and I finally was sold for the amount I got picked for,” Rinku said.
He said, “I am used to batting at No. 5. When I walk into the middle, we are mostly in critical situations. I generally take a stalk of the situation and play my own game and never bow down to pressure. . I LOVE scoring runs. After playing 3-4 balls, I just want to hit the ball out of the park. It’s just my nature.”
“I was not really a good fielder earlier. My fitness wasn’t great either. But then I started working on it. We all know fielding is very important in cricket. So, I started focusing on both my fitness and fielding. I did a lot of work on improving my speed in the field, and by God’s grace, I am a good fielder now,” Rinku said.
He said, “ I played for DPS for a few years. In 2012, they had organised a World Cup where teams from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh came to play. I scored 354 runs and took 8 wickets, because of which I was given the Man of the Series award and the bike. My parents were present on the ground. My father used to often beat me up whenever I wanted to play cricket but after this match, he never touched me again.”
Rinku said, I guess it’s everyone’s dream to represent the country. I have set small goals. To start with, I want to do well in IPL. Then I want to play for India A and eventually for India. I definitely want to play for India in the next few years.”
“Domestic performances are definitely crucial. After scoring those 950 runs, I ended up playing for Rest of India, India A and Board President’s XI. So, yes, domestic cricket makes a lot of difference,” he added.
UNI BM SJC KK

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