The 25-year-old Rinku Singh played the perfect role of a finisher for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2023. He finished with 474 runs from 14 games.
New Delhi: Rinku Singh once again did the unthinkable when his 33-ball 67 not out brought Kolkata Knight Riders on the brink of another famous victory in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Saturday against Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens.
Chasing 187, Rinku played the perfect finisher’s role, like he did in the whole IPL 2023 season, but fell short as KKR lost by just 1 run against the visitors who made their way to the playoffs. LSG became the third team after Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings to seal a top four spot.
While KKR finished finished a disappointing seventh, the 25-year-old from Aligarh became a household name and the two-time champions’ find in the ingoing season. The southpaw finished his campaign with 474 runs from 14 games at an average of 59.25 and a strike rate of 149.52.
With his superb show, Rinku became the seventh uncapped batter to manage more than 450 runs in a single Indian Premier League season, thus joining the likes of Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav, Yashavi Jaiswal, Shaun Marsh and many more.
Jaiswal tops the list with 625 runs from 14 games in the ongoing season. The Rajasthan Royals opener had one century and five half-centuries to his name and broke Shaun Marsh’s 15-year-old record.
Marsh, in IPL 2008, playing for Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) went on to score 616 runs in 11 innings with one three-figure score and five half centuries. Mumbai Indians star Kishan is third on the list. The MI opener scored 516 runs in IPL 2020.
Kishan’s teammate Suryakumar Yadav comes next with 512 runs scored during the 2018 edition of IPL. During that season, SKY scored four half-centuries with a season-best of 72. Playing for RCB then, Devdutt Padikkal was the find of the franchise in 2020.
In what was his debut year in IPL, the left-hander scored 473 runs for RCB with a strike rate of 124.8 and five half-centuries to his tally. Left-hander Paul Vathaty had also scored 463 runs in IPL 2011 for Kings XI Punjab.
