Credit: X
Abhishek Nayar, the former India cricketer and the assistant coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, has heaped praises on Rinku Singh for taking India over the finishing line in a last-over thriller against Australia during the first T20I of the five-match series on Thursday, November 23. Just a few short hours later, Dinesh Karthik, who has been a part of their journey at KKR, talked at length on social media about the special bond shared between Abhishek Nayar and Rinku Singh over the last few years.
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At the ACA-VDCA International Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India needed seven runs to win in the last over when Rinku Singh faced up to Sean Abbott, and then, he brought the equation down to two runs in four balls after scoring a crucial boundary. When three wickets fell on three successive deliveries, including two run outs, the left-handed batter managed to get on strike to smash the last ball in the grandstand, but it wasn’t counted in the Indian score because the bowler delivered a no-ball with one run to get.
The innings of 22 off 14 from him was vital for Team India in securing a two wicket win on the final ball, which led to the emotional post-match interview on JioCinema involving Rinku Singh and Abhishek Nayar. The KKR assistant coach firstly talked about the breakthrough year for the left-handed batter in the IPL 2023 before revealing how he made a great comeback from an ACL injury suffered two years ago.
Watch the clip of Abhishek Nayar praising Rinku Singh here:
Next morning, Dinesh Karthik took to his official X account to share details about the relationship between Abhishek Nayar and Rinku Singh. He spoke about how partnership started in 2018 during his time at Kolkata Knight Riders, where Nayar kept on telling him about how Rinku will reach for bigger and better things in the sport sooner rather than later.
Dinesh Karthik also mentioned how Abhishek Nayar convinced the KKR Managing Director Venky Mysore to keep Rinku Singh in the franchise during his ACL injury phase. He also called Rinku as the “Match Winning Finisher,” while crediting Nayar who envisioned it a few years ago.
