<p>Mumbai, April 10 (IANS) Having once considered taking up a job as a sweeper to supplant the meagre earnings of his lower-middle-class family, Rinku Singh eventually ran away from his home in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh to the state capital to pursue a cricket career.<br /><br />On a Super Sunday, Kolkata Knight Riders were thanking Rinku Singh for deciding to pursue the game despite the initial hardships after the 25-year-old batter sensationally smashed five sixes off successive deliveries in the final over to seal an improbable victory for his team against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad.<br /><br />With five balls left in the final over, Kolkata Knight Riders needed 28 runs to win, Rinku Singh smashed five successive sixes to seal a memorable victory for his team. His brilliant assault prompted teammate Venkatesh Iyer to call him Lord Rinku. <br /><br />Rinku's brilliant blitzkrieg provided the perfect finishing touch to the topsy-turvy encounter in which fortunes flung from one side to the other. After Venkatesh Iyer (83) and Nitish Rana (45) put KKR on course to victory. But Gujarat Titans' stand-in skipper Rashid Khan claimed a hattrick, having Andre Russell caught behind off an inside edge, Sunil Narine caught at deep mid-wicket and trapped Shardul Thakur lbw with a googly to turn the match in his team's favour.<br /><br />But Rinku, a left-handed batter and right-handed bowler, had other ideas as he smashed a 21-ball unbeaten 48, hitting five sixes in the final five balls of the match to seal a memorable victory for Kolkata Knight Riders.<br /><br />The sensational assault will definitely pitch Rinku Singh in contention for a place in one of the Indian white-ball teams if continued to launch a few more such blitzkriegs.<br /><br />Rinku came into prominence in <a title="IPL 2022" href="https://ift.tt/4AJm2oX" data-type="interlinkingkeywords">IPL 2022</a> when had smashed 40 off just 15 balls for KKR and was on the verge of scripting an unlikely win against Lucknow Super Giants in their last league game. But a stunning catch from Evin Lewis on the penultimate ball of the game resulted in his dismissal and Kolkata ending on the losing side. <br /><br />That knock indicated his potential and Sunday's 48 not-out against Gujarat Titans cemented his reputation as a big-hatting batter capable of scripting miracles.<br /><br />Rinku, whose father Khanchandra Singh worked in an LPG distribution company, spent his early years in a two-room quarter near the Aligarh Stadium along with his parents and four siblings. <br /><br />He has come through the age-group competitions, playing for the U-16, U-19 and U-23 teams of Uttar Pradesh.<br /><br />The 25-year-old Rinku, who was the leading run-scorer for UP in group stages of the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy with 803 runs from nine matches, was first picked by Kings Xi Punjab for IPL 2017 and the next year, he bagged an 80-lakh deal from KKR. <br /><br />However, he could manage only 10 matches spread over three seasons as he missed the 2021 IPL with a knee injury but was picked by KKR once again in the 2022 auction.<br /><br />On Sunday, he made up for some of that disappointment by helping his team to a memorable win.<br /><br /><strong>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)</strong></p>
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