Sunday, 9 April, saw cricket fans glued to their screens as an unassuming Kolkata Knight Riders batter Rinku Singh stunned the world.
He struck five sixes at the ongoing IPL 2023 cricket match against Gujarat Titans at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad.
The Uttar Pradesh native’s unbeaten 48 off 21 deliveries won the match for Kolkata at a time when everyone anticipated loss.
So, who is Rinku Singh, and what went into his smashing success? Let’s have a look.
Rinku is the third of five siblings from a small two-room quarter in Aligarh.
Having failed his Class 9, Rinku had only cricket to fall back on, and the sport gradually became his life’s calling.
He recalled having tried multiple job opportunities but couldn’t get himself to engage in daily labour.
Rinku was certain that cricket was where his mind lay and he was going to put his heart and soul into the sport.
His passion for cricket translated into results during his stint with KKR assistant coach Abhishek Nayar at the KKR Academy.
At the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy outing for Uttar Pradesh, he was the third-highest run-getter (953 runs in 10 innings) of the tournament with four centuries to his name.
However, it was during the player auctions in 2022 that the humble family first tasted hope when Rinku was bought by KKR for Rs 80 lakh.
He was overjoyed, as this meant he could use this money to marry off his elder brother — an autorickshaw driver — and help the family shift into a bigger home.
His three-wicket win at the IPL 2023 match against Gujarat Titans had Rinku trending all over the internet.
“Life mein struggle bahut kiya, may be God is repaying for those days,” he said in an interview with The Indian Express.
Post the match, he said, “My father struggled a lot; I come from a farmer's family. Every ball that I hit out of the ground was dedicated to the people who sacrificed so much for me,” he said.