India and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) batter Rinku Singh has reacted to a viral video where he was seen asking Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) icon Virat Kohli for his bat ahead of their IPL 2024 match.
Rinku, who met Kohli on the eve of the match, revealed that he accidentally damaged the RCB icon’s gifted bat. As Rinku explained how he broke the bat, Kohli clarified that he wasn’t in the mood to give him another one.
Speaking to News 24, Rinku recalled the incident, saying that the viral video didn’t put him in a good light.
“(Main thoda zyada badnaam ho gaya tha) I had become a little too infamous because of the bat. I used to meet him (Kohli) normally and then asked for a bat. The cameraman would follow me. It wasn’t being perceived well. It wasn’t good for me or for bhaiya (Kohli) either, as videos of the bat were going viral,” said Rinku.
Rinku also revealed that he had taken bats from icons MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma during the IPL 2024 season.
“This time, I wasn’t seen with Virat Bhai (in IPL 2024). I took Mahi Bhai’s (MS Dhoni’s) bat this time, and also Rohit (Rohit Sharma) Bhai’s bat. It’s a really big deal for me because getting bats from such big players is a huge thing,” he added.
While Rinku has been named in India’s squad for the Asia Cup, his career has seen a decline since he failed to make it into the Indian squad for the T20 World Cup, where he was a standby player.
A low-key 2024 IPL, where he faced only 113 balls, hinted at a reduced role. Interestingly, it was Gautam Gambhir who was the mentor and chief strategist for KKR in 2024. The way the erstwhile KKR think-tank chief used Rinku was indicative that the Aligarh southpaw’s role in his scheme of things was very limited.
Going by the fight for each batting slot, one can’t say with a degree of certainty that Rinku is an automatic choice going into the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka early next year.