Rinku Singh (cricketer)

Last updated

Rinku Singh
Personal information
Full name
Rinku Khanchand Singh
Born (1997-10-12) 12 October 1997 (age 28)
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Height1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingRight-arm off break
Role Middle-order batter
Relations Priya Saroj (fiancé)
International information
National side
ODI debut(cap  254)19 December 2023 v  South Africa
Last ODI21 December 2023 v  South Africa
ODI shirt no.35
T20I debut(cap  107)18 August 2023 v  Ireland
Last T20I23 January 2026 v  New Zealand
T20I shirt no.35
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
Men's cricket
Representing Flag of India.svg  India
Asia Cup
Winner 2025 UAE
Asian Games
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2022 Hangzhou
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 24 January 2026

Rinku Khanchand Singh (born 12 October 1997) is an Indian cricketer, who plays for the India national cricket team. He is a left-handed middle order batter and an occasional right-arm off break bowler. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 2025 Asia Cup and the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games. He represents Uttar Pradesh in domestic cricket and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.

Contents

Early and personal life

Rinku Singh was born on 12 October 1997 in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. [1] He is the third of five siblings. His father, Khanchand Singh, worked in an gas cylinder distribution company, and during his early years, the family lived in a two-bed room accommodation provided by his father's employer. [2]

On 8 June 2025, Singh got engaged to politician Priya Saroj in Lucknow. [3] [4] In the same month, he was appointed as an officer in the state education department under the sports quota. [5] [6]

Domestic career

Singh represented Uttar Pradesh at the under-16, under-19 and under-23 levels; and also played for Central Zone at the under-19 level. [7] He made his List A debut for Uttar Pradesh on 5 March 2014 against Vidarbha and top-scored with 83 runs in the match. [8] On 5 November 2016, he made his first-class debut against Hyderabad in the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy. [9] He was the leading run-scorer for Uttar Pradesh in the 2018–19 Ranji Trophy, with 953 runs in ten matches. [10] [11]

Franchise career

Singh was bought by Kings XI Punjab in the auction held in February 2017 ahead of the 2017 Indian Premier League. [12] He was released a season later, and in the auction held in January 2018, he was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for 8 million (equivalent to 11 millionorUS$130,000 in 2023). [13] On 30 May 2019, he was given a three-month suspension by the Board of Control for Cricket in India after he took part in a T20 Tournament in Abu Dhabi without seeking prior permission from the board. [14]

Singh was ruled out of the 2021 Indian Premier League due to a knee injury and was replaced by Gurkeerat Singh Mann in the Knight Riders' squad. [15] In February 2022, he was retained by the Knight Riders ahead of the 2022 season. [16] During the 2022 season, he earned his first Player of the Match award after he scored 42 runs in 23 balls against the Rajasthan Royals. [17] [18] On 9 April 2023, in a match against Gujarat Titans, he scored 29 runs including five sixes in the final over bowled by Yash Dayal, which was the highest number of runs scored in the last over to win a match in the history of the tournament. [19]

International career

Singh was part of the Indian squad that won the gold medal at the 2022 Asian Games. However, he did not make it to the playing eleven during the tournament. [20]

On 18 August 2023, Singh made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut in the first match of the away series against Ireland at Malahide. [21] However, he did not get to bat in the match, and scored 38 runs in the next match. [22] He played all five matches in the home T20I series against Australia in the November 2023 and score 105 runs at a strike rate of 175, which was the best strike rate of any Indian batter in the series. [23] In November 2023, he was named in the Indian squad for the away series against South Africa. [24] He scored his first T20I half-century in the second match of the series. [22] [25] He made his One Day International (ODI) debut on 19 December 2023 in the second match of the ODI series. [26] He scored 17 runs and took the wicket of Rassie van der Dussen. [27]

On 17 January 2024, in the third match of the home series against Afghanistan, he put on a 190 runs partnership with Rohit Sharma, which is India's highest partnership in T20Is. [28] In May 2024, he was named as a reserve player in the Indian squad for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. [29] He played five matches in the away series against Zimbabwe in July 2024 and score a half-century in the second match of the series. [22] Subsequently, he was named in the Indian team for the away series against Sri Lanka, in which he score two runs across two innings. [22] [30] Though he performed better, scoring 61 runs across two innings in the home series against Bangladesh the in October 2024, he had meagre returns of 28 runs across four matches in the subsequent tour of South Africa in November 2024. [22]

Singh played only five T20I matches for India in 2025, scoring 43 runs in three innings. This included a lone match in the final of the India's title winning campaign in the 2025 Asia Cup against Pakistan in Dubai. [22] [31] In January 2026, he made his return to the national side for the home series against New Zealand, and scored an unbeaten 44 runs from 20 balls, in an eventual Indian victory in the first match of the series held at Nagpur. [22] [32]

References

  1. "Rinku Singh Profile". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  2. "Rinku Singh 2.0: Hungry, fearless and more determined". The Times of India . 3 May 2022. Archived from the original on 19 May 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
  3. "Cricketer Rinku Singh gets engaged to Samajwadi Party MP Priya Saroj in Lucknow". India Today . 8 June 2025. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  4. "Who is Priya Saroj? Rinku Singh gets engaged to 25-year-old, all you need to know". The Times of India . 9 June 2025. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  5. "Rinku Singh Appointed BSA: Reporting Chain, Salary, And Team Role Explained". ABP News . 27 June 2025. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  6. "Rinku Singh gets appointed as BSA in Uttar Pradesh, to receive a hefty monthly salary of Rs..." Daily News and Analysis . 27 June 2025. Archived from the original on 22 July 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  7. "Teams Rinku Singh played for". Cricket Archive. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  8. "Central Zone: Uttar Pradesh v Vidarbha at Jaipur, Mar 5, 2014". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
  9. "Ranji Trophy, Group A: Punjab v Uttar Pradesh at Hyderabad (Deccan), Nov 5–8, 2016". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 9 November 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
  10. "From irresistible Rajasthan to inconsistent Karnataka". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  11. "Ranji Trophy, 2018/19 – Uttar Pradesh Cricket Team Records & Stats". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 11 April 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  12. "List of players sold and unsold at IPL auction 2017". ESPNcricinfo . 20 February 2017. Archived from the original on 20 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  13. "List of sold and unsold players". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 28 January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
  14. "BCCI suspends Rinku Singh for taking part in Abu Dhabi T20 tournament". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 30 May 2019. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  15. "IPL 2021: KKR's Rinku Singh ruled out with knee injury; replacement announced". Cricket Times. 4 April 2021. Archived from the original on 30 April 2021. Retrieved 30 April 2021.
  16. "IPL 2022 auction: The list of sold and unsold players". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 13 February 2022. Retrieved 13 February 2022.
  17. "M47: KKR vs RR – Man of the Match – Rinku Singh". Indian Premier League . Archived from the original on 14 October 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  18. Koshie, Nihal (27 March 2022). "Hard life of the ever-smiling cricketer Rinku Singh, KKR's rising star". The Indian Express . Archived from the original on 29 May 2022. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
  19. "31 Runs scored by Knight Riders in the last over, the highest any team has managed in the 20th over to win a men's T20 chase". ESPNcricinfo . Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
  20. "Asian Games 2022, India squad". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  21. "Rinku Singh Profile". Cricbuzz . Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  22. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Rinku Singh, T20I career". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  23. "Stats, Australia tour of India, 2023". Cricbuzz . Retrieved 24 November 2023.
  24. "Kohli and Rohit rested for white-ball games in SA; Suryakumar to lead in T20Is, Rahul in ODIs". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  25. "South Africa vs India, 2nd T20I at Gqeberha, SA v IND, Dec 12 2023". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  26. "South Africa bowl with two changes; Rinku makes ODI debut". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  27. "SA vs IND, India in South Africa 2023/24, 2nd ODI at Gqeberha, December 19, 2023". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  28. "India win epic contest after two Super Overs against Afghanistan". ESPNcricinfo . 17 January 2024. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  29. "India's Squad for the ICC Men's T20I World Cup 2024". Score Waves. Retrieved 11 June 2024.
  30. "Team India squad for 3 T20Is & 3 ODIs announced". Board of Control for Cricket in India . Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  31. "Pakistan vs India, Final at Dubai, Asia Cup, Sep 28 2025". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  32. "India vs New Zealand, 1st T20I at Nagpur, Jan 21 2026". ESPNcricinfo . 21 January 2026. Retrieved 23 January 2026.