Rinku Singh wanted to give up cricket to sweep, mop floors to pay up dad's loan

In its 15 years of existence the Indian Premier League IPL has witnessed many a player coming from wilderness to make a name for themselvesKolkata Knight Riders Rinku Singh became the latest entrant in this list after he scored a brilliant unbeaten 42 off 23 balls hitting six fours and a six to help KKR win by seven wicketsRinku raised 66 runs for the unfinished fourthwicket partnership with Nitish Rana 48 off 37 4 x 3 6 x 2 as Kolkata Knight Riders reached 1583 in 191 overs to overhaul Rajasthan Royals score of 1525 in 20 oversFor his superb unbeaten 42 off 23 deliveries and two catches Rinku was adjudged the Player of the Match his first award in the IPL bringing to life a remarkable journey for the 24yearold from Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh that involved fiveyears of wait in IPL wilderness hoping for an opportunity to show his worth after years of toil at the domestic level playing for Uttar PradeshKolkata Knight Riders head coach Brendon McCullum on Monday alluded to his remarkable journey from the town of Aligarh known more for its locks than cricketers to becoming an IPL player and winning his maiden Player of the Match awardHes an amazing story Hes been around the franchise now for a long period of time Before the first game that he played I was lucky enough to spend a little bit of time with him He knew for his own selfworth and his own career that he needed to make a statement in this competition He was able to do it in the first gameHes such a great team man a wonderful human being and the real vibe and culture of the group is set by Rinku Some players just deserve to have things go their way and Rinku is one of them said McCullum after Rinku guided the team to victory against Rajasthan RoyalsIndeed Rinkus is a remarkable story that has a huge dose of hardships rejection dejection and heartbreak and eventually successIn between his story also involves injury scares and a threemonth suspension by the BCCI in 2019 for playing in a T20 tournament in Abu DhabiRinku survived all those setbacks scored a pile of runs for Uttar Pradesh at the domestic level and slowly and steadily achieved successIn IPL 2022 Rinku has so far scores of 35 28 balls against Gujarat Titans 23 16 against Delhi Capitals and 42 not out 23 balls against Rajasthan Royals on Monday With three good knocks Rinku has at least cemented his place in the KKR Playing XI for the next few matches and if he continues to shine he may even draw the attention of other franchises which could result in more game timeBorn on October 12 1997 in Aligarh Rinku was picked by Kings XI Punjab now Punjab Kings in 2017 but failed to get a chance He was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders in the 2018 auction for Rs 80 lakh He remained with KKR till 2021 when he was ruled out of IPL due to a knee injury and was later replaced by Gurkeerat Singh MannThough he did not get a chance to play his superb work ethics friendly nature and desire to contribute to the team in any manner endeared him to the franchise and KKR again bought him in February this year for IPL 2022And this season he got a chance to play as KKR went about cutting and chopping the squad in search for the right combination as they slumped to five successive defeatsThe lefthanded batter and rightarm offbreak bowler Rinku who comes from a lower middleclass family as his father works for a domestic gas agency delivering gas cylinders has played agegroup cricket for Uttar Pradesh and had to save money from his daily allowances to help his father pay off a loan of Rs five lakhIt was such a tough period for Rinku that at one time he contemplated quitting cricket and taking up work as a domestic help sweeping and mopping floors to contribute to his familys incomeHe eventually decided to persevere with his cricket and that eventually paid off as he made it to the UP Ranji Trophy team the higher matchfee now helping him take better care of his familyHe was big success for Uttar Pradesh in firstclass cricket amassing 953 runs in 10 matches in the 201819 season So far he has scored 2307 runs in 46 innings in firstclass cricket hitting five hundreds and 16 fifties In 41 List A matches Rinku has compiled 1414 runs one century and 12 fifties and in T20 cricket he has scored 1081 runs in 64 matches at a strike rate of 1385 and average of 2456Though Rinku has finally achieved some success that he is getting recognised by people he is quintessentially a smalltown boy taking pride in putting his hometowns name on the IPL mapI am the first to play IPL from Aligarh though many have played Ranji Trophy There is pressure in the IPL that is not there in firstclass cricket Its been five years I havent been getting chances regularly Feels good to contribute now he added on MondayNow that he has made the breakthrough Rinku Singh will be hoping to get many more chances in IPL so that he can make the most of them to fulfil his childhood dream of one day representing the countryThis story has been sourced from a third 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