Before the national selectors and India’s team management firmed up the 15 that won the T20 World Cup earlier this year, a considerable amount of time had gone around the inclusion of . The southpaw wasn’t among the first choice players with Shubman Gill ahead of him. But the latter struggles and India’s intent to go full throttle from the word go had prompted a question: If they lose wickets early in the powerplay, who is the best bet among the lot. The answer to that was Rinku.
It is how Rinku made the 15-member cut for the T20 World Cup. Of course, India didn’t endure any such nightmare in the tournament and it allowed the left-hander to play the finisher’s role. And as are struggling to get off the mark, with their batting unit showing no signs of being a settled unit, there is a key question that is emerging: Why is reluctant to promote Rinku higher up the order, when none of their middle-order batsmen has showed signs of owning up the spot.
Still the only team to remain winless after five matches, on Friday against , KKR once again endured a wobble start. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane fell for zero in the first over, Angkrish Raghuvanshi continued to look out of depth at No 3 again, and Tim Siefert replacing his teammate Finn Allen at the top didn’t last long either. And as wickets fell in the powerplay, there was no sign of Rinku being promoted. Instead, it was Rovman Powell who joined Cameron Green. And even when Powell was dismissed in the 11th over, the batsman who walked in was Anukul Roy.
Of all the mistakes that KKR seem to be making in the drawing board, their reluctance to promote Rinku – the vice-captain of this team – beyond his finisher’s role is puzzling. In a batting line-up that is short on confidence, he is their best Indian batsman. Retained at Rs 15 crore, the highest in the franchise, he has been their designated finisher over the years. But, by limiting his role only to the death overs, KKR seem to be making life hard for themselves.
In a format where teams rely extensively on data, KKR may think they have good reasons to hold Rinku for the back end of the innings. When it comes to batting in the middle-overs, Rinku doesn’t have strong numbers. Between 7-16 overs, he strikes at 116.15 and has been dismissed 22 times in that phase. In 47 innings, he has hit only 19 sixes in that phase, which shows he hasn’t really warmed up to bat higher up. And in the instances where he has come out to bat inside the first 10 overs, he has 192 runs in 23 innings, again not good enough numbers.
But for a batsman of his pedigree, the reluctance to evolve is not just holding him back and also his team KKR, which again suffered another defeat. In this , he started off with his cameos in the end, but in the matches where he has been needed with the bat, Rinku hasn’t been able to bail out the team. Coming in the 12th over against he managed just 7 and against , tried to drop anchor at No 5, where he laboured to 6 off 12 before being dismissed. It was an occasion where he came in ahead of Green and Powell, in the hope that he would take the game deep.
Against Gujarat on Friday, Rinku finally walked in at No 7 in the 14th over and made 1 off 2, trying to go for a hoick when he was in no position to play. Given his struggles, perhaps KKR reckon Rinku is best suited to bat at the death. But when it comes to making an impact, he hasn’t been able to achieve it. For a batsman, whose temperament is revered and has a healthy first-class average of 59.30, the time has come to take more responsibility and take KKR out of the rut when they need the most.
